■ > - *■ ■" - 



- * 



4& 



■mhmhimh 



ife^V \Yi\\ 




Jt 



I 







THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 



OCTAVO, ILLUSTRATED. 1'EK VOL., $1.50 



THE EARLIER VOLUMES WILL BE 

THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Jas. A Harrison 

THE STORY OF ROME. By Arthur Gilman 

THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. Jas. K. Hosmer 

THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. A. Ragozin 

THE STORY OF NORWAY. By Prof. H. H. Boyesen 

THE STORY OF GERMANY. By S. Baring-Gould 

THE STORY OF SPAIN. By E. E. and Susan Hale 

THE STORY OF HUNGARY. By Prof. A. Vambery 

THE STORY OF CARTHAGE. By Prof. Alfred J. Church 

THE STORY OF THE SARACENS. By Akthur Gilman 

THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. By Z. A. Ragozin 

THE STORY OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN. By Stanley Lane-Poole 

THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. By Sarah O. Jewett 

THE STORY OF PERSIA. By S. G. W. Benjamin. 

THE STORY OF ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. By Prof. J.P.Mahaffy 

THE STORY OF EARLY EGYPT. By Geo. Rawlinson 

THE STORY OF THE GOTHS. By Henry Bradley 

For prospectus of the series see end of this volume 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON 






m 



J 



\ 




01 \ GERMAN, i:V TRADITION, HERMANN. 
I The Capitollne Museum, Rome.) 



flhe Jjtorg of il|c ||«iions 



v 



THE 

STORY OF GERMANY 



> BY 

SABINE BARING-GOULD, M.A. 

AUTHOR OF "GERMANY PRESENT AND PAST," " CURIOUS MYTHS OF THE MIDDLE 

AGES," ETC. 

WITH THE COLLABORATION OF 

ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A. 

AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF ROME," " A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN 
PEOPLE," ETC. 



2 



**° 




NEW YORK & LONDON 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

Wyt ftttichcrbochtr %xt%% 

1887 






COPYRIGHT BY 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

1886 



,\ 

\ 






' 



Press of 

(i. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York 



PREFACE. 



Germany is the heart of Continental Europe, and 
influences have gone forth from her which have 
deeply affected every one of her neighbours. The 
present volume traces the life of this powerful na- 
tion from the time whe'n imperial Rome was baffled 
by her valiant Hermann down to the hour when 
France fell before her, and the idea of Empire 
(which had been a delusion and a terrible embarrass- 
ment since the crowning of Charlemagne) became, 
under William the First, a power making for peace 
and strength. 

The absorbing story begins with pictures of the 
surgings of the nations, — the Huns, the Sclavs, the 
Goths, the Saxons, the Franks; it tells of the throes 
by which the heroes of old brought the great peo- 
ple to its independent life ; recounts the struggles 
of the various Teutonic families among themselves, 
and of all of them with their neighbours , and brings 
up vividly the power of an idea, as it shows the 
strife and perplexities arising from the Imperial 
spectre, as well as the dire contest that followed 
the schism of the Church and in a short time in- 
volved all Christendom in disputes touching the 
highest interests of humanity. 

The reader of the story of Germany is thus 



IV 



PREFACE. 



brought face to face with problems of the deepest 
moment, with which men of deadly earnestness 
were struggling through the ages, putting forth all 
the power of their intellect and the force of their 
vigorous bodies, intensified by the deep-seated re- 
ligious convictions which they nourished in their 
hearts. 

The story of such a people as the Germans could 
not fail to possess intense interest for anyone ; but 
for us of another branch of the Teutonic family, it 
has the additional charm that it is the history of 
our blood-relations. On their experience we have 
built, and to the light of their example we look for 
guidance ; in their triumphs we rejoice ; to the 
grandeur of the genius of their poets and prose 
writers, of their scientists and theologians, we look 
with pride and admiration, congratulating ourselves 
that we, too, are Teutons. We stood with their 
Hermann, as he said to the Roman Varus, <4 No 
farther!" just as we stood with the barons before 
King John on the field of Runnymede. 

It has been the endeavour in preparing the fol- 
lowing pages to keep before the mind this unity of 
the Teutonic peoples, as well as to indicate the 
steps by which the idea of Empire has progressed 
to the present German Unity. 

A. G. 

CAMBRIDGEj May \st, 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



I. PAGE 

The First Germans, . . . . . 1-6 

Invaders from the North, i — The Romans defeated, 2 — 
Marius at Aix, 4 — The victory over the invaders, 6. 

II. 

What was Old Germany Like? . . . 7-14 

Hill-country and plain, 7 — Traces of early inhabitants, 8 — 
The Germans spearmen, 9 — The Swabians, 10 — Freemen 
and slaves, n — Donar and the other gods, 12 — S. Noth- 
burga, 14. 

III. 

How Hermann Met the Romans, . . . 1 5-23 

Cassar in Gaul, 15 — Hermann's thoughts, — Varus and his 
legions, 18 — "Give me back my legions !" 20 — Thusnelda 
captured, 22 — Hermann the typical German, 23. 

IV. 

The Fierce Huns Appear, .... 24-28 
Puss in the Corner, 24 — People from Northern Asia, 26 — 
The Niebelungen Lied, 27 — Attila dies, 28. 

V. 

The Migrations of the Tribes, . . . 29-33 
Wasps in a beehive, 29 — Goths, West Goths and Slavs, 31 — 
The Burgundians and Franks, ^ 

VI. 

Clovis, King of the Franks, . . . 34-42 

Confusion, 34 — The cathedral at Rheims spoiled, 35 — Clo- 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



tilde wooed by Clovis, 37— Baptism of a son of Clovis, 38 
— Clovis prays, 39— The Allemani beaten, 40— Three thou- 
sand Franks baptised, 41— Clovis dies, 42. 

VII. 
The Mayors of the Palace, . 43 _ 45 

The Merovingians, 43,— Pepin the Short, 44— Pepin dies, 45. 

VIII. 
The Germans Hear the Gospel, . . . 46-5 1 

Irish manuscripts in Germany, 46 — Fridolin, the Irishman, 
48 — Boniface, the Good-doer, 50 — Pagans murder Boniface, 

5 1 - 

IX. 

A Man of Mark, 5 2-62 

Charlemagne, 52— His kingdom, 54— Wittekind flees to 
Denmark, 56— Wittekind and the Saxons overcome, 57 — 
Charlemagne divides his kingdom, 58— The Church under 
Charlemagne, 59— Good acts of Charlemagne, 60 — Charle- 
magne crowned at Rome, 61 — His death, 62. 

X. 

The " Holy Roman Empire." . . 63-66 

The old Empire, 63 — Conversion of the Romans, 64 — Italy 
overrun by the Lombards, 64 — Who was Emperor? 65 — 
Importance of the idea of the Empire, 66. 

XI. 

A King Pious but Narrow, . . \ 67-71 

Louis, the narrow-minded, 67— Jutta accused of witchcraft, 
68— War between brothers, 70— Treaty at Verdun, 71. 

XII. 
The New System of Government, . 72-74 

How the Germans held their lands, 72— How fighting men 
were furnished, 73— The feudal system, 73. 

XIII. 

Trouble Coming, 75~77 

Successors of Louis the Pious, 75— The invasions of the 
Magyars or Hungarians, 76 — End of the race of Charle- 
magne, 77. 



CONTENTS. vii 

How Henry the Fowler Ruled, . . . 78-84 
The great vassals elect the king, 78— Gonrad chosen, 79— 
Henry the Fowler chosen, 80 — Tribute to the Hungarians, 
81 — Protecting the frontier, 82 — The Hungarians baffled, 83 
—Knighthood instituted, 83— Rules of the Order, 84. 

XV. 

The Hungarians Burst in Again, . . 85-93 

Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg, 85 — Count Kyburg puzzles the 
Hungarians, 86 — Otto comes upon their rear, 88 — Otto the 
Great crowned, 90. 

XVI. 

Some Trials of a King, .... 94-105 
A Plot against a King, 95 — The King's Guardians, 97 — An 
Appeal to the Pope, 99 — A Hand cut off, 103 — A broken 
heart, 105. 

XVII. 

A Bad Son Makes a Strong King, . . 106-108 

XVIII. 

How They Fought the Saracens, . . 109-112 
A great awakening, in. 

XIX. 

How a New Dynasty was Begun, . . 113-119 

The two-headed eagle, 119. 

XX. 

Frederick of the Red Beard, . . . 120-124 
Frederick Barbarossa, 120 — His army almost cut to pieces, 
122 — Henry the Lion under the ban of the empire, 122 — A 
crusade against Saladin, 124. 

XXI. 

A Cruel King Put Under the Ban, . 125-135 

Terrible work in Sicily, 125 — A child-king, 127 — The power 
of the nobles, 129 — Trouble from the imperial idea, 131 — 
Another crusade, 132 — Pope against emperor, 133 — The em- 
peror excommunicated, 134 — A prince in a cask, 135. 



\ 111 



CONTENTS. 



XXII. PAGE 

The Robber-Knights, .... 136-140 

Germany's ruined castles, 136— Nobles and knights quarrel, 
13S — What work the knights did, 139— Lordly innkeepers, 
140. 

XXIII. 

How the Germans Wrote Romances, . 141-145 

The Minnesingers, 141— The old heroic legends, 142— Gun- 
thur and Kriemhild, 143— Brunhilde quarrels with Kriem- 
hild, 144— Attila, King of the Huns, marries Kriemhild, 

145- 

XXIV. 

How the Cities Gained Power, . . 146-147 

Guilds and hereditary burghers, 146 — The Hanseatic 
League, 147. 

XXV. 
A Good King from a Swiss Castle, . . 148-150 

The castle of Hapsburg, 148 — Rudolph founds a dynasty, 

• 150- 

XXVI. 

Did William Tell Shoot ? . . . . 1 51-153 
Albert of Hapsburg, 151— William Tell, 1 52— The battle of 
Morgarten, 153. 

XXVII. 

The Golden Bull, i54~ l6 3 

Henry of Luxemburg chosen emperor, 154 — Civil war, 156 
— The election of emperor settled. by the Golden Bull, 156 
— Wcnceslas comes to the throne, 158 — His savage hounds, 
159 — IIuss appears at Prague, 160 — The one-eyed leader of 
the Hussites, 161 — Saxony wasted, 162 — Bohemia and the 
country generally pacified, 163. 

XXVIII. 

A Sleepy King, 164-170 

The Austrian house of Hapsburg comes into power, 164 — 
The Graubunden, 166 — Peasants with pitchforks, 166 — 
Wheat fields ravaged, 167 — Maximilian the Handsome, 168 
— The Flemings revolt, 170 — Maximilian a prisoner, 170. 



CONTENTS. IX 

XXIX. PAGE 

Between the Old and the New, . . 172-178 

Hans Burgkmair's wood-cuts, 172 — Maximilian a boundary- 
stone, 174 — A diet at Worms, 175 — An imperial post-office, 
176 — Trouble with the Turks, 176 — Money going to the 
Pope, 177 — Too much ambition, 178. 

XXX. 
Men Begin to Print Books, . . . 179-181 

Water-marks, 179 — The invention of printing, 179 — The 
Bible printed, 180. 

XXXI. 

A Great Stir in the Church, . . 182-188 

Beginning of Protestantism, 182 — The Pope wants money, 
183 — Indulgences, 184 — Martin Luther appears, 185 — Justi- 
fication by faith, 186 — Archbishops in armor, 188. 

XXXII. 
Walled Cities and their Importance, . 189-195 

Cities begin to be important, 189 — Timber houses, 189 — 
Glass windows, 191 — Stables under the houses, 191 — Beauty 
of the cities, 192 — Street fights, 193 — Music and singing, 
194. 

XXXIII. 

High German and Low, .... 196-198 

How Germany is divided, 196 — The hill country and plains, 
196 — How Luther fixed the literary dialect, 197 — Compari- 
son with England, 198. 

XXXIV. 

A Mighty Emperor, ..... 199-204 
Charles the Fifth and his traits, 199 — His ambition, 201 — 
Another diet at Worms, 203 — The princes seize church 
property, 204. 

XXXV. 

How the Peasants Waked up, . . 205-210 

The new ideas permeate society, 205 — Gathering straw- 
berries and snails, 206 — Little Jack and Black Hoffman, 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



207— Hacked to pieces, 207— Terrible deeds, 208— Shall the 

chains be re-riveted? 209. 

XXXVI. 

The Sad Fate of Bernard Knipperdolling, 211-220 

Meyerbeer's opera, 211— League against the Catholics, 211 
—Mlinster converted to the Gospel, 212— Anabaptist trou- 
bles, 213— Vagaries, 214— Knipperdolling's death, 217— 
Titles to tradesmen, 21S— Minister reverts to Catholicism, 

2iq. 

XXXVII. 

How the Protestants Protested, . . 221-231 

The Reformation at Zurich, 221— A diet at Spires, 221— 
The Protestants uncompromising, 222— Council at Trent 
225— Victory for king Charles at Mithlberg, 225— Maurice 
rewarded by Charles, 226— Maurice unmasks, 227— The 
Pacification of Passau, 228-The Pope jealous of King 
Charles, 228— Death of Charles V., 230. 
XXXVIII. 

Thirty Years of War about Religion, . 232-239 
Persecutions on both sides, 232— Gloomy Rudolph II., 233 
—The Protestant Union and the Catholic League, 233— A 
High Fall, 235— Vienna besieged, 235— A battle at Prague, 
23S— The Winter King, 239. 

XXXIX. 

A Bohemian Gentleman, . . . 240-246 

Count Tilly comes to the front, 240— Albert of Wallenstein 
appears, 242— Betnlen Gabor disbands his troops, 244— 
Wallenstein baffled, 244— He retires to Bohemia, 246. 

XI.. 

A Swedish King in Germany, . . . 247-256 

Gustavus Adolphus appealed to, 247— Dreadful scenes in 
Magdeburg, 247— Outrages by the Swedes, 250— The em- 
peror appeals again to Wallenstein, 251— Wallenstein's 
magnificence, 252— Gustavus attacks the Bohemian gentle- 
man, 253 — A difficult retreat, 254— A battle at Lut/.en, 254 
—What two Scotchmen and an Irishman did, 256. 



CONTENTS. XI 

XLI. PAGE 

Peace After the Long War, . . . 257-259 

The Peace of Westphalia, 257 — The Reichstag or Imperial 
Diet, 258 — How the population decreased, 258. 

XLII. 

Two Strokes by a Man in Yellow, . 260-264 

The long reign of Leopold, 260 — Rhineland wasted by the 
French, 261 — The man in yellow, 261 — The Turks stirred 
up, 263 — Two great men, 263. 

XLIIL 

A Noble Ruler, 264-267 

The Great Elector, 264 — His pedigree, 265 — A fortunate 
escape, 266 — The Swedes take to flight, 267. 

XLIV. 

Bitterly Fighting the Turks, . . . 268-269 

Prince Eugene appears, 268 — Louis XIV. attempts to gain 
Eugene over, 269 — The Prince wins his soldiers' hearts, 269. 

XLV. 

All Europe at War, 270-274 

A claim to the crown of Spain, 270 — War begins in Italy, 
271 — The battle of Blenheim, 271 — Marlborough in the 
Netherlands, 272 — Ramilies and Oudenarde, 274 — Rastadt, 
274. 

XLVI. 
Powdered Wigs and Patches, . . . 275-277 

Rococo, 275 — A strange " deformity," 276 — Threatrical stat- 
ues, 276 — Manufacturing " nobles," 277. 

XLVII. 

The Troubles of a Noble Queen, . . 279-282 

War with Maria Theresa, 279 — In spite of the Pragmatic 
Sanction, 280 — Rude royalty, 281 — Insolence of king Fred- 
erick, 282. 

XLVIII. 
The Queen's Baby Boy, .... 283-287 

" Moriamur pro rege nostro Maria Theresa," 283 — A brief 









x jj CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

reign, 285 — Frederick the Great uneasy, 2S6 — An angry 
prince, 2 

XI .IX. 

The Hardships of a Young Print: . 288-292 

Doings in a "Tabagie," 288 — Royal whimsies, 2S9— A flying 

prince, 290 — Close confinement, 291 — A reconciliation, 292. 

L. 
The Army of Cut-and-Run, . . • 2 93 _2 95 

A confederation against Prussia, 293 — The battle of Ross- 
bach, 294 — The charge of Seidlitz, 295. 

LI. 

Old Fritz Repairs Ruins, .... 296-300 

Terrible results of the war, 296 — Traits of the king, 20S — 
Anecdotes, 299 — Frederick the Great, 300. 

LII. 
The Doings of Two Hundred Princes, . 301-305 

Culture nearly extinguished, 301 — Manufactured towns, 
302— Mannheim described, 303— A palace at Wurzburg, 

3°4- 

LIII. 

Good King Joseph, 306-311 

Character of Joseph II., 306— Arbitrary reforms, 307— Con- 
dition of the peasants improved, 308 — Religious orders put 
to work, 309— A visit from pope Pius VI., 310 — A tottering 
throne, 31 1. 

LIV. 

Genius Comes to the Front, . . . 312-317 
Lessing breaks away from foppery, 312 — Goethe and Schil- 
ler appear, 313 — Weimar a German Athens, 314 — Schiller's 
Robbers, 315 — Other writers, 316 — Music improves. 317. 

LV. 

An Up-turning in France, . . . 318-327 

The fashion to be vicious, 318 — Influence of America, 319 — 
The Third Estate, 320— Storming the Pastille, 321— The 
peasants rise, 322 — The Jacobins and Robespierre, 324 — 

Louis XVI. execute;!, 32(1 — Marie Antoinette executed. J27. 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



LVI. PAGE 

The Man from Corsica, . . . 328-339 

The First Coalition, 328 — Girondists guillotined, 329 — End 
of the Reign of Terror, 330 — Napoleon advances into Italy, 
331 — Threatened in the rear, 332 — Treaty of Campo Formio, 
333 — Nations like children, 334 — France prepares for more 
war, 336 — The French in Egypt, 337 — The Second Coali- 
tion, 337 — Battle of Hohenlinden, 338 — Peace concluded at 
Luneville, 339. 

LVIL 
Napoleon as Emperor, .... 340-347 
Napoleon wins popular favour, 340 — The Empire estab- 
lished, 341 — The Third Coalition, 341 — Battle of Auster- 
litz, 342 — Peace of Pressbu/g, 344 — Prussia chastised, 345 
— Austria against Napoleon, 346 — Peace of Vienna, 347. 

LVIII. 

The Heroes of the Tyrol, . . . 348-357 

Hofer the Landwirth, 348 — His picturesque dress, 349 — " It 
is time!" 350 — A secret kept, 351 — Berg Isel, 353 — The 
woman with the cask, 354 — Austria abandons the Tyrol, 357. 

LIX. 

The March on Moscow, .... 358-361 

Napoleon against England, 358 — Against Russia, 359 — The 
retreat from Moscow, 361 — Napoleon deserts his own army, 
361. 

LX. 

Napoleon Falls and Germany Rises, . 362-366 

Hope in Europe, 362 — Germany roused, 364 — Bliicher wins 
success, 365 — Napoleon's last victory on German soil, 366. 

LXI. 

The Battle of the Nations, . . . 367-372 
A foreboding, 367— The position of Leipzig, 368 — How the 
battle there began, 369 — Victory apparently for the French, 
370 — All lost, 371 — " It was a glorious victory ! " 372. 

LXII. 

Napoleon Checked, 373S7& 

Napoleon refuses peace, 373 — He is forced to renounce the 
French crown, 375— The First Peace of Paris, 375— Sudden 
return of Napoleon, 376 — A second abdication after Water- 



CONTENTS. 
xiv 

PAGE 

l00f 377— The Second Peace of Paris, 378— A new partition 

of Europe, 37S. 

LXIII. 

Germ \nv Struggles for Freedom, . . 379~3 8 3 

Men desire more freedom. 3 79-The Holy Alliance, 380- 
The liurschenschaften 381— Memoirs of Baron Trenck, 3S2 

—The Zoll-verein, 383. 

LXIV. 

Another Revolution, . 3 8 4~3 8 7 

Louis Philippe flees to England, and Louis Napoleon ap- 
pears 384— Every German state in commotion, 3S5— A 
National Assembly at Frankfort, 386-Frederick William 
IV. declines to be emperor, 386-The peasants rise again, 
but government keeps the upper hand, 387. 

LXV. 

A Quarrel about Two Duchies, . . 3 88 "394 

Schleswig-Holstein, 3 SS-Denmark crushed, 390-General 
Benedek makes a mistake, 391-The battle of Koniggratz, 
392— The Peace of Prague, 394. 

LXVI. 
A Terrible Struggle with France, . . 395-4H 
A dispute over the throne of Spain, 395-Napoleon III. 
declares war, 396-The contending armies, 397-The French 
routed at Worth, 390-Great agitation in Pans, 399-! he 
position of Metz, 400-Masterly plans and movements, 402 
-The Germans occupy Gravelotte, 403-A battle there, 
404— MacMahon in a corner, 405-Defeat at Sedan,— Napo- 
leon surrenders, 406-Rapidity of the movements, 4 oS-lhe 
Germans at Versailles, 409-The siege of Pans, 410-Ganv 
betta in a balloon, 410— Gambetta's operations, 412— Peace, 
413— The Commune, 414. 

LXVII. 
The New Empire, 415-422 

William, king of Prussia, crowned Emperor at Versailles, 
415— First diet of the new Empire, 416— Composition of 
the empire, 416-What is the German Fatherland? 41S— 
The Lesson of Unity, 420-Crushing military drill, 421- 
\dvantages of the study of history, 4* 2 - 

Index, 42 3 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The larger proportion of the illustrations in this volume are based 
upon the excellent designs in the comprehensive and authoritative 
"Deutsche Geschichte," by L. Stacke, to the publishers of which, 
Messrs. Velhagen & Klasing, of Bielefeld, we desire to express our 
cordial acknowledgments. 

May i, 1886. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. 

PAGE 

MAP OF EUROPE IN THE NINTH CENTURY, • Front Lining 

map of the German empire, 1885 . Back Lining 

BUST OF A GERMAN BY TRADITION HERMANN, Frontispiece 

ROMANS AND CIMBRI IN COMBAT 

A GERMAN CAVALRY MAN (ROMAN RELIEF) 

ANCIENT GERMAN DWELLINGS (ROMAN PERIOD) 

SAXON COLONIST WITH CAPTIVE WEND . 

A GERMAN COUNCIL (ROMAN PERIOD) 

GERMANS ON THE RHINE .... 

CAESAR ........ 

GERMAN HORSEMEN FIGHTING ROMAN LEGIONS 
ROMAN SOLDIERS DESTROYING A GERMAN VILLAGE 
STATUE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT THUSNELDA 
GERMAN CAPTIVE (ROMAN PERIOD) 
BOUNDARY WALL (ROMAN PERIOD) . 
GERMAN SKIRMISHERS (GEFECHT'S-EROFFNER) 
MARCUS AURELIUS PARDONING GERMAN CHIEFS 
ROMANS BESIEGING A GERMAN FORTRESS 
GERMAN PRIESTESSES FOLLOWING THE ARMY . 
GERMAN BODY-GUARD OF THE LATER CAESARS 



3 

5 

9 
10 

11 

J 3 
16 

17 

1 9 
21 

*5 

27 

30 
3 2 
36 

39 
40 



XVI 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 






INVESTITURE OF A BISHOP BY A KING 

TREATY OF ALLIANCE BETWEEN GERMAN TRIBES 

A JUDGMENT OF GOD 

GERMANY CAPTIVE . 

CHARLEMAGNE (d©REr) . 

CHARLEMAGNE IN COUNCIL 

Charlemagne's signature 

SILVER PIECES OF CHARLEMAGNE 

ST. MICHAEL, THE PATRON SAINT OF THE EMPIRE 

ELECTION OF A KING . 

THE HEERBANN CALLING OUT OF THE MILITIA. 

HENRY II. AND CUNIGUNDE BUILD CHURCHES . 
OTTO II. AND HIS SPOUSE BLESSED BY CHRIST . 
HENRY II. RECEIVES FROM GOD THE CROWN, HOLY 

LANCE, AND IMPERIAL SWORD 
OTTO III. AND REPRESENTATIVES OF NOBLES AND 

CLERGY 

IMPERIAL HOUSE AT GOSLAR (HENRY III.) 

HENRY IV. WITH SCEPTRE AND IMPERIAL GLOBE 

RUDOLPH OF SWABIA 

CONRAD, SON OF HENRY IV. 

HENRY V. RECEIVES INSIGNIA FROM 

A TEMPLAR .... 

AN ASTROLOGER (HOLBEIN') . 

IMPERIAL GLOBE 

A HOHENSTAUFFEN KNIGHT . 

CONRAD HUNTING WITH FALCONS 

HENRY THE LION AND SPOUSE 

STATUE OF FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 

bakbarossa's PALACE AT GELNHAUSEN . 

BARBAROSSA'S PALACE AT KAISERWERTH 

SEAL OF OTTO IV 

MONUMENTAL LION TO HENRY THE LION 



POPE PASCHAL 



45 

47 
49 
5 1 
53 
55 
57 
62 

66 
69 
81 
86 

87 
89 

9 1 

97 

99 
101 

103 

107 
108 
1 11 

114 

115 
117 

121 

"3 

1 26 

1 27 
128 






LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



XV11 



SILVER PIECE OF OTTO IV. ... 

HENRY VI. .......... . 

PEASANTS BUILDING A VILLAGE (13TH CENTURY) 

A BISHOP IN ROBES 

THE DRESS OF THE GERMAN LORDS, WORN BY HENR\ 

OF THURINGIA, A.D. I241 
KNIGHT AND ATTENDANTS . 
PEASANTS AND PLOUGH (13TH CENTURY) 

RUDOLPH OF HAPSBURG 

FORTIFIED CAMP (15TH CENTURY) . 

SEVEN ELECTORS CHOOSE FOR EMPEROR HENRY OF 

LUXEMBURG 

THE MARTYRDOM OF HUSS .... 

JOHN, COUNT ZISKA, OF TROCZNOW 
SCENE FROM THE HUSSITE WARS 
ARTILLERY OF THE I5TH CENTURY 
MAXIMILIAN AND BRIDE, MARY OF BURGUNDY 
FREDERICK III. ...... 

KING JOHN OF BOHEMIA ..... 

FREEING THE BURGHERS OF MAINZ FROM THB BAN 

IN I332 

LUTHER (CRANACH) 

A GERMAN CITY IN THE I5TH CENTURY . 

FERDINAND I 

MELANCTHON (dUREr) ..... 

three peasants, 16th century (durer) 
luther and melancthon (cranach) . 
school-room in 16th century 
consecration of a church, 1530 
woman's costume, i6th century 
john frederick the bold, elector of saxony 
german patricians in 1550 .... 
vienna early in the 17th century . 



PAGE 
129 
I30 

l 33 
135 

i37 
J 39 
147 
149 

155 

157 

T 59 
161 

162 

t6 5 
169 

171 

178 

184 
186 
190 
200 
202 
208 
210 
212 
216 
218 
224 
228 

237 






XV111 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 






JEAN TZERCLAES, COUNT TILLY 

ALBERT VON WALLENSTErN . 

A VILLAGE FESTIVAL IN THE l6TH CENTURY 

BERLIN IN l66o . 

MEN OF WAR OF THE GREAT ELECTOR . 

THE GREAT ELECTOR AND WIFE 

FREDERICK I., KING OF PRUSSIA 

JOSEPH I., EMPEROR OF GERMANY . 

FREDERICK THE GREAT .... 

MARIA THERESA 

ONE OF FREDERICK WlLLIAM's ORF.NAP1ERS 
FREDERICK THE GREAT . 
LEOPOLD II. IN IMPERIAL ROBES 

FREDERICK WILLIAM II 

KARL WILHELM, BARON VON HUMBOLDT . 
ALEXANDER, NAPOLEON, AND FREDERICK 
LIAM III. ..-••• 

ANDREAS HOFER 

CLEMENS WENZEL, TRINCE VON METTERNICH 

THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG (map) 

GEBHARD LEBRECHT VON BLUCHER 

TABLE OF THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN SUCCI 

THE BATTLE OE KONIGGRATZ (map) 

METZ (MAP) 

KARL-OTTO, PRINCE VON BISM ARCK-SC He )KNH A 
MAP OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR 
WILLIAM I., EMPEROR OF GERMANY . 
PRINCE WILLIAM, CROWN PRINCE . 



\V I L 



ON 



USEN 



TAGS 
241 

-43 
249 
263 

266 

271 
274 
2 80 
2S4 
29O 
297 

3 2 3 
3 2 5 

1 *■» ^ 

343 
349 
3 6 3 
3 6 9 
3 T 4 
389 

393 
401 

407 

409 

4i7 
419 



c^^;II1P^^ j > 











'•S^'JSl 


|ys~r> dddggfevy^^Srlfi '""(^ 


gFlp 


i¥^ 


2' : /><^i^= 


^jvl^v^Sga 


3-^^^^ 


■W 4^»i\8™ 


rat (8 ^oBw^ hHS^^ ^"*^!5 


Hfc.v^ 






Bfejwv*»F 4f&pti&i&*i im , -'J/jjw 




^v. 


B^lSs 





I. 



THE FIRST GERMANS. 



(b.c. i 13-102.) 

■v 

In the year 1 13 before Christ was born, the inhab- 
itants of Northern Italy were startled to see multi- 
tudes of savage men sitting on their great shields, 
shooting down the snow slopes of the Alps upon 
them. They had fair hair, thick and long ; some had 
shaggy red hair. They were tall, strong men ; their 
eyes were blue. They wore the heads of wolves 
and bears and oxen on their helmets, the latter 
with the horns; and others again had the wings of 
eagles spread, and fastened to their iron caps. Who 
were these? They belonged to two different races, 
and spoke different languages ; and though both 
were fair-haired, yet one set of men was taller, 
sturdier than the other. 

These invaders called themselves the Cimbri and 
Teutones. They had lived side by side in the Swiss 
valleys till the valleys could no longer support 
them, and then they burst their way over the snowy 
passes to conquer and colonize the sunny plains of 
Italy. 

At the present day the mountains of Switzerland 



1 



THE FIRST GERMANS. 

will not support all its inhabitants. The men go 
out as masons, and waiters, and pastrycooks, and 
clock and watchmakers, and the -iris as nurses and 
cooks. In those days they went out only in one 
wa y— to fight and conquer themselves new homes. 

If you were to travel through Switzerland to-day 
you would find that in one canton French is 
spoken, in the next German ; that in the town of 
Freiburg, French is spoken in the lower and Ger- 
man in the upper town. This is because two dis- 
tinct races live together in Switzerland now, as they 
did 113 years before Christ. The French-speaking 
people represent the Cimbri and the German-speak- 
ing people represent the Teutones. The Welsh call 
themselves Cymri, which is the same as Cimbri. 
They belong to the same great Keltic family. The 
Germans call themselves Deutsch, which is the same 
as Teut-ones. 

The Romans sent armies against these warriors 
who came down on Italy from the snowfields, but the 
Cimbri and Teutones defeated them. They fought 
with desperation ; starvation was behind in their 
mountain valleys ; they must conquer or die. They 
destroyed the villages they came upon, they took 
and burnt the cities, they overran the plains. They 
killed the horses they took, and hung their cap- 
tives to trees as sacrifices to Wuotan, the god of 
the air, after whom Wednesday (Wuotans-tag^) takes 
its name. Italy was filled with dismay. If the 
Cimbri and Teutones had known how to profit by 
the terror they inspired, and by their victories, they 
would have soon taken Rome ; but they turned to 



THE FIRST GERM A. VS. 
4 

the West, and poured along tiie beautiful Riviera 
road into the south of what we now call France. 

This gave the Romans a little breathing time ; a 
great army was assembled, and placed under the 
command of their best general, Marius. He pur- 
sued the wild men into Gaul, and formed a strongly 
fortified camp on the Rhone. Thence he watched 
them. His soldiers were at first too much afraid 
of these great men with their animals' heads,— their 
faces peering out of the jaws of wolf and bear- to 
be trusted to meet them in battle, but after awhile 
they became accustomed to the sight. The wild 
warriors despised the Roman soldiers, and as they 
ate up the produce of the land where they settled, 
they divided, and the Cimbri went off again, like a 
swarm of bees, back through Switzerland and Tyrol 
into Italy. Then the Teutones also turned to go 
back into Italy. When they did this, Marius came 
out of his camp and followed them. At the right 
moment he fell on the Teutones near Aix, and in a 
tremendous battle completely defeated them * Ma- 
rius drove the men back to their camp. "Then," 
says the historian," the Teutonic women rushed to 
meet them with swords and cudgels, uttering hid- 
eous howls ; they drove back their flying country- 
men, upbraiding them as cowards ; they assailed 
the pursuers as enemies, beating down the swords 
of the Romans with their bare hands, and allowed 
themselves to be hacked to pieces rather than yield. ' ; 
In the mean time the Cimbri were in the valley of 






*See "The Story of Rome," pp. l8l| I s -- 




Ill 

IJIi 



A GERMAN CAVALRY-MAN. (ROMAN RELIEF.) 



() THE FIRST GERMANS. 

the Adige, coming down by Botzen and Trent into 
Italy. As the river incommoded them, they rolled 
great rocks into it, and hewed down pines and threw 
them across and made a great dam, so as to enable 
themselves to wade across. 

Marius left the battle-field of Aix and came with 
his army across the northern plains of Italy, and 
caught the Cimbri near Verona. He planted his 
own men so that the blazing August sun should 
shine in the faces of the enemy, and that the wind 
should carry the dust and sand into their eyes. 
The first ranks of the Cimbri had tied themselves 
together with ropes, so as to bear as a compact mass 
upon the Romans; but this arrangement was a fail- 
ure, the dead men falling, dragged down the living. 
The Romans gained a complete victory ; and the 
poor Cimbric women, when they saw their husbands 
and brothers slain, ran themselves through with 
swords, or hung themselves to the poles of their 
wagons, rather than become the slaves of the con- 
querors. 

Such was the end of this great invasion of Italy. 
It is interesting to us, because this is the very first 
time we hear of the Teutons or Germans. Their 
first appearance was in 113, and the two great de- 
feats took place in 102 before Christ. 




II. 



WHAT WAS OLD GERMANY LIKE? 



Germany, you must understand, is divided into 
Upper and Lower Germany. Upper Germany is 
a hilly country ; Lower Germany is a dead, sandy 
flat. In primeval times, when the Germans first 
colonized the country, it was covered with vast for- 
ests of oak and pine, and where there was much rolled 
stone, with birch. Out of the forests rose the moun- 
tain ranges of South or Upper Germany, like islands. 
In Lower Germany there were m?.ny bald patches 
of heathery waste, and marshy tracts strewn with 
lakes. The great rivers rolled through the valleys 
and plains, changing their courses and heaping up 
piles of rubble. 

The great valleys were first colonized where the 
richest pasture land was, and only little by little did 
the inhabitants thin the forest and creep up among 
the hills. 

Was it one great family of races — the German — 
that occupied the vast northern plains and the val- 
leys among the hills ? That we cannot think. 
Over the northern plains are found strewn great 
burial mounds, containing within them passages 
made of stones set on end, and huge stones above. 

7 



g WHAT WAS OLD GERMANY LIKE? 

The peasants call them Huns' graves. They are 
not, however, the graves of Huns, but belong to an 
unknown race which occupied the shores of the 
Baltic and the Northern Sea before the Germans 
came into the land. In the South there arc no 
such graves, but there are other traces of a peo- 
ple strange to the Germans, and these are the 
names of rivers and mountains, such as Pegnitz, the 
river on which Niirnberg stands, and Karwendel, a 
mountain in the Bavarian highlands, and the Schar- 
nitz pass. These point to a Sclav population, that 
is, one related to the modern Russians, and Poles, 
and Bohemians. But there is another trace of an 
earlier people in Germany besides mounds and 
names. It is found in the old laws of the German 
tribes. By these laws we learn that there was a 
race of serfs, — conquered people who tilled the 
land, — and the pure-blooded conquerors were not 
allowed to intermarry with them. If a German did 
so, then he lost his rights as a free man, and all his 
children were slaves. That law remains to some ex- 
tent in force still in Germany, but it has lost its or- 
iginal meaning. Now a prince cannot marry out of 
the princely families. If he does, his wife is not re- 
garded as a princess, and his children have only 
their mother's rank. Originally this law, which 
is found among all the old races of Germany, was 
passed to keep the grand Teutonic blood pure. 

However, if you travel in Bavaria, or Baden, 
you will see that the greater number of peasant 
men and women have hazel eyes and dark hair. 
That shows they are not pure-blooded Germans; 






THE EARL V TRIBES. g 

they have flowing in their veins the blood of the 
conquered race. 

The Germans were so called from the spears 
they carried. The name means Spear-men, but they 
called themselves Deutschen, or, as the Romans 
rendered the name, Teutones. This name comes 
from an old German word that simply means " the 
People." 




ANCIENT GERMAN DWELLINGS. (ROMAN PERIOD.) " 

They were divided into a great many tribes, of 
which we must mention the principal. 

The Chatti lived in Hesse, and have never moved 
thence. The present Hessians are the lineal de- 
scendants of the old Chatti. 

The Saxons lived in Holstein and the Angles in 
Schleswig. They have spread since the veil first 
rises on their history. The Saxons and Angles in- 



1 



WHAT WAS OLD GERMANY LIKE ? 



vaded Britain, and the English, or Anglo-Saxon 
people, arc their descendants. 

South and east of the Saxons lived the Suevi, or 
Swabians They have shifted far to the south and 
Saxons now occupy their lands. To them be- 
longed the branches of the Marcomanni, or March- 
men, who lived on the Rhine at first, the frontier of 
the Kelt, and also the Longobards, 
who were on the Middle Elbe. 
Later, these latter deserted their 
home and conquered the North of 
Italy, which is called after them, 
Lombardy. The Goths lived or- 
iginally near the sources of the 
Vistula. Akin to them were the 
Vandals and the Burgundians. 

What is remarkable is, that the 
races in the South had very differ- 
ent ways of living from those in 
the North. The Suevi were a war- 
like race. They had no settled 
homes, no fixed fatherland. The 
^* land was divided among them by 

[ST WITH ° 

lot every year, and so changed 
owners annually. One part of the people went out 
yearly to war, and the rest remained at home and 
tilled the ground. Those races which were in the 
North had, however, the land given to the great 
men, who lived on their farms, ruling their serfs; 
and they handed on their lands to their sons. Even 
to this day the different systems show. In West- 
phalia, for instance, you will see fine farm-houses, 




s \\<>\ COLONI! 

c IPTIVE W END. 



RELIC 10 US BELIEF. 



II 



as in England, the same in Holstein, and the fields 
are hedged about. But in the South it is not so. 
The farm-houses are all gathered together in little 
villages, and you cannot see a hedge anywhere. 
The old inhabitants of Germany were divided 




mvi 



^^^a^, t ,, /llJt j,,,| l ,,All|U' , w1^J|ij^)|-»,'|/|'),!J ) ,, u| 

A GERMAN COUNCIL. (ROMAN PERIOD.) 

into two great classes, the free and the enslaved. 
The free were divided into the greater and lesser 
nobility, and they alone were allowed to bear 
arms. 

The old German religion was very like that of 
the Norwegians. They regarded Wotan as the 
chief of the gods. He had one eye in his fore- 
head, which was the sun. He was the god of 
the heaven, and the air, and men and horses were 
sacrificed to him by being hung up in trees. The 
German peasants still remember him, but do 



WHAT U r A S OLD GERM Ah 1 ' LIKE ? 

not think of him any more as a god. They tell of 
a Wild Huntsman, who is heard of a night gallop- 
ing over the forest tops, blowing his horn, with 
fire-breathing dogs going before him, and a white 
,wl fleeting on spread wings with eyes like moons. 

Vnother of their gods was Donar, whom the 
Norsemen called Thor. He is the Thunderer, and 
is armed with a hammer, which he flings at his en- 
emies ; but it always returns to his hand. After 
him the Germans call Thursday (Thor's-day), Don- 
ne r's-tag. 

Among the goddesses were Freyja, from whom 
we get the name of Friday (in German, Frei-tag), 
and Hertha, the goddess of the earth. Another was 
variously called Hulda, Bertha, or Horsel. She 
was a kind goddess, loving children, and was really 
the moon. She was represented as taking to her 
the souls of all little children who died, and nurs- 
ing them. These were the stars, and the moon and 
the stars were supposed to be the gentle Hulda, 
with her crowd of little children's souls gathered in 
heaven about her. She was also called Nothburga, 
the "helper in need." You shall hear how old 
heathen stories linger on to the present day. In 
Tyrol there was, in the 14th century, a peasant 
girl called Nothburga, who was so good that she 
came to be regarded as a saint. The old tradi- 
tions about the goddess were still hanging about 
in men's minds, and they came to associate them 
with this peasant girl, who chanced to bear the 
name of the moon-goddess; so when they made 
pictures of her, they represented her with a silver 










13 



•4 



WHAT WAS OLD GERMANY LIKE? 



crescent. Then, when they had forgotten all about 
the goddess, they invented a story to account for 
the silver crescent in the pictures, and they told 
how S. Nothburga had one day thrown up her 
sickle into the sky whilst reaping, and that there 
it had hung. 




K-'JJStfftttA 


10t*l\*-_ ~^W^l 


^^^ 


, '.yfff^^Sff l 'J'lJf 




iSI 


Ws^iSm 



III. 



HOW HERMANN MET THE ROMANS. 



(A.D. 9.) 

ABOUT fifty years after the defeat of the Cimbri 
and Teutones the Romans came a second time 
into contact with the Germans. Julius Caesar, one 
of the greatest and most famous of Roman gen- 
erals, was governor of Gaul. The Marchmen had 
crossed the Rhine under their prince, Ariovistus, 
or, as he would be called by his own people, Ar- 
bogast, and established themselves in Burgundy. 
Julius Caesar drove them back over the Rhine, 
which he also crossed repeatedly ; but his succes- 
sors, Drusus and Tiberius, were the first to subju- 
gate a portion of Germany between the Rhine and 
the Weser. 

There was a tribe called the Cherusci, occupying 
the south of what is now Hanover. Their chief, 
named Hermann, had been taken to Rome during 
the time of Drusus, probably as a hostage. He had 
carefully studied his Latin lessons there, but he 
never forgot the words that he had been taught at 
his mother's knee, and was always proud that he was 
a German. As he read history, he learned how the 
Romans had achieved their power, and he seems 

15 



i6 



HOW HERMANN MET THE KOMAXS. 



to have thought that his own people might accom- 
plish noble deeds if only they would unite and 
stand as one nation before the world. 

Hermann saw that the Romans were rich and had 
colonies all over the world, but he knew that they 
were gay and pleasure-seeking, and lived to a great 
extent in cities, where every sort of dissipation 
abounded. As he looked towards his German 

5^ woods he reflected up- 
on the difference be- 
tween his captors and 
the active and liberty- 
loving people who 
dwelt there in humble 
village homes, where 
y love bound the father 
to the mother and 
united the children to 
both, and where, as a great Roman writer said 
i casting* reproach upon his own countrymen and 
women), it was not fashionable to do wrong, and 
no one smiled at vice. As he grew up these feel- 
ings became stronger. 

After a time Hermann returned to Germany, and 
found the people ready to listen to his advice and 
follow his leadership. In the course of events the 
Romans sent a general, named Varus, to look after 
their interests and assert their power. lie knew 
how Hermann had been educated and, little suspect- 
ing the hot thoughts that were welling up in his 
patriotic heart, ventured to take him as his coun- 
sellor and guide. Hermann saw that his moment 







, 




GERMAN HORSEMEN FIGHTING ROMAN LEGIONS. 
(From the Column of Antoninus, in Rome.) 



17 



jg HOW HERMANN MET THE ROMANS. 

had conic, and took advantage of this circumstance 
to draw Varus and his great army into the hilly re- 
gion of the Teutoberger Forest, where he rightly 
thought that the numbers and the strong bodies 
of his fellow-countrymen would be more than a 
match for the better drilled and heavily-armed co- 
horts of the invaders. 

It was the autumn of the year 9 A.D. There 
were no roads, and Varus was obliged to cut down 
trees to make a way for the slow march of his army- 
Almost before he knew it he found himself in a 
trap. To add to his dismay and confusion a great 
storm arose. The mountain torrents, swollen by the 
rain, overflowed their banks ; and whilst the Ro- 
mans, encumbered by their baggage and by hosts of 
camp-followers, and wearied by the toilsome way, 
passed in irregular columns through the wet marshes 
and narrow valleys, the thunders of the German war- 
cry suddenly burst upon them from all the hills 
around, and they were struck down by showers of ar- 
rows that seemed to drop from the clouds. Panic- 
stricken, and not knowing which way to turn, they 
halted, and were, as in a moment, surrounded by the 
hosts of their assailants, who were perfectly at home 
in the most intricate passes. 

All day long the battle raged, and then the invad- 
ers tried, under cover of darkness, to throw up a 
protecting earthwork, but they were too much worn 
to accomplish anything. Hundreds were lost in the 
morasses ; their eagles were taken from them; they 
were entirely without provisions, and it was plain 
that there was no safety but in retreat. The only 






o HOW HERMANN MET THE ROMANS. 

question was which direction they should take. 
Inch by inch they gave way, but very few escaped 
to tell the story of the fight in the terrible German 

forests. 

Varus, who had marched into the treacherous 
fastnesses as if hound on a holiday excursion, threw 
himself on his own sword in despair, and when the 
news reached the great emperor, Augustus, that his 
army had been destroyed,— the army of the proudest 
people in the world, the people who were then chief 
among the nations,— he clothed himself in mourn- 
ing, let his hair and beard grow, and cried again and 
again in the bitterness of his heart, " Varus, Varus, 
give me back my legions ! " The capitol was stirred 
as it had been when, after " tearful Allia," the Gauls 
threatened the city, for the people thought that 
the victorious Germans would surely march that 
uay.' :: ' Hermann had no such plans ; he did not fight 
for conquest, but for freedom ; he had the first vis- 
ion of a united Germany. He had won indepen- 
dence for his native land, and had put a stop to 
Roman conquest in one quarter of the globe. He 
had given the nations of German blood an example 
that was to bear fruit on the peaceful field of Run- 
nymede, when the English barons wrung the Magna 
Charta from King John ; for it was from the region 
in which Hermann fought that our ancestors came, 
and we may take pride in him and in the great statue 
erected in his honor hundreds of years after his day 

• For some account of the terrible victory of the ('..mis over the 

Romans at the river Allia. Bee " The Story of Rome," pp. ioi, 136. 




STATUE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT THUSNELDA. 
(In Florence.) 



21 



2 2 HO 1 1 ' HERi MA XX . ME T THE ROMA . \ s. 

by the princes of Germany on the culminating point 
of the Teutoberger Alps. 

Hermann's wife was Thusnelda, daughter of an 

old chief named Siegast, who was friendly to the 
Romans. She was renowned for her beauty as well 
as for great patriotism. Her spirit was rather like 
that of her husband than that of her father, for 
Siegast had treacherously warned Varus to be on 
his guard against Hermann, and when opportunity 
came he even delivered up his daughter to her coun- 
try's enemies. The feelings of the Germans was 
strong against such a man, so strong, in fact, that 
Siegast was attacked, and only found safety by flee- 
ing to the enemy. A few years later Thusnelda and 
her son adorned a triumphal procession in Rome. 

It may well be imagined that Hermann was 
strengthened in his hatred of Rome by the loss of 
his wife and son ; and when, five years after the de- 
feat of Varus, another army was sent against the 
Germans, he met it with a strong force and effectu- 
ally resisted it. Once and again the attempt to con- 
quer the land failed, and at last the effort was aban- 
doned. When there was no longer fear from that 
quarter Hermann suffered the fate of many others 
who have striven to do good for their fellow-citizens. 
Like Camillus, Manlius, and the Gracchi among the 
Romans, his motives were not understood. His 
own people rose against him, and at the early age of 
thirty-seven he fell by the hands of his near rela- 
tions. It was reserved for a Roman historian to 
speak his praises and for a*fter ages to raise his mon- 
ument. Tacitus says that it was his honour to have 



THE WANING ROMAN POWER. 



23 



successfully met the arms of Rome in the pride of 
its imperial power, and to have had his paeans 
chanted in the songs of his countrymen. He be- 
came the typical War-man, the " Man of Hosts," the 
deliverer of Germany, and he was remembered by our 
own Anglo-Saxon ancestors after they had removed 
to the British Isles. Hermann and Thusnelda stand 
out as the representatives of the true love between 
husband and wife, for which the early Germans 
were celebrated. 

After this the Romans held possession of a very 
small portion of the soil of Germany, which they 
called the Titheland. It lay between the Danube, 
the Main, and the Rhine, and was protected by a 
moat and wall, with towers at intervals. The wall 
was a mound with palisades at the top. The 
traces are still to be seen, and are cal^d by the peo- 
ple " The Devil's Walls." 




IV. 



THE FIERCE HUNS APPEAR. 

(375-45- 1 -) 

IN the year 375 a great change began in the posi- 
tions of the peoples who were settled in Germain*. 
A game of puss-in-the-corner was played there on a 
very large scale, and with no laughter, but main- 
tears. 

The cause of this was the appearance of the 
Huns. 

The Huns, or Calmucks, wandering shepherd 
tribes, were natives of the North of Asia, and in- 
habited the vast plains between Russia and China. 
They had no houses. They lived in tents, in which 
they also stabled their horses. From beine con- 
stantlyon horseback their legs were crooked. They 
were short men, broad shouldered, with strong, mus- 
cular arms ; had coarse, thick lips, straight, black, 
wiry hair, little, round, sloe-like eyes, yellow com- 
plexions, and sausage noses. They were filth)- in 
their habits ; their horrible ugliness, their disgusting 
smell, their ferocity, the speed with which they 
moved, their insensibility to the gentler feelings, 
made the Goths, with whom they first came in 
contact, believe they were half demons. The)- ate, 

- 1 



I 




GERMAN CAPTIVE. (ROMAN PERIOD.) 
(From Statue in Vatican Museum.) 



25 



2 6 THE FIERCE HUNS APPEAR. 

drank, slept on horseback. Their no less hideous 
wives and children followed them in waggons. They 
ate roots and raw meat. They seemed insensible to 
hunger, thirst, and cold. 

In the year 375 after Christ they crossed the 
Volga in countless hordes, and poured down on 
Germany. The East and West Goths, unable to 
resist their numbers and savagery, deserted their 
lands on both sides of the Dnieper, and, crossing the 
Danube, descended into the Roman empire with the 
entreaty that they might be accommodated with 
lands there. 

At last these barbarians spread over Dacia, which 
has since been called after them Hungary, where 
they were well content to ramble over the grassy 
plains that reminded them of their Asian steppes. 
But about the middle of the fifth century there rose 
among them a prince of very remarkable character, 
called by the Romans Attila, and by the Germans 
Etzel, but who was best pleased to be called " The 
Scourge of God." This man murdered his own 
brother, so as to unite the sovereignty of the Huns 
under himself. He is introduced in the Nibelungen 
Lied, the great national epic poem of German}'. 
Kriemhild, the widow of Siegfried, and daughter of 
a king of the Burgundians, was married to Attila. 
Her dearly loved husband, Siegfried, had been mur- 
dered treacherously by order of her brother, the Bur- 
gundian king, Gunther, who was jealous of him. 
When Kriemhild became Queen of the Huns she 
persuaded Attila to invite her brother and all his 
nobles to Buda, and, unsuspicious of evil, they ac- 



THE BATTLE OE CHALONS. 27 

cepted the invitation. But the queen meditated 
revenge for the slaying of her dear Siegfried, and 
when her brother and the nobles were banqueting 
her guards fell on them. There was a furious fight, 
the palace caught fire, and Kriemhild saw her 
brother, and all those who had counselled and as- 
sisted in the murder, perish by sword and flame. 
After that she died herself. The story is only possi- 
bly founded on fact. History tells us nothing about 
this deed of revenge. 




BOUNDARY WALL. (ROMAN PERIOD.) 

In the year 45 1 Attila broke up his camp at 
Buda and marched West, at the head of an enor- 
mous host of Huns. They overran the South of 
Germany, crossed the Rhine, and resolved to con- 
quer their way to the Atlantic. Those who could 
not escape were either killed or had to join the 
army. But the Franks, the West Goths, the Bur- 
gundians, and the Romans united in one great host 
under the general Aetius, and withstood the on- 
slaught of the Huns in the plains of Chalons on the 
Marne. The battle was furious, and ended in the 



g THE FIERCE HUNS APPEAR. 

defeat of the Huns. Attila was forced to retire 
with the loss of half his men, and the Western Em- 
pire was saved. 

Next year Attila descended into Italy, but re- 
treated toward his own country and died through 
the bursting of a blood-vessel, A.D. 453. 







V. 



THE MIGRATIONS OF THE TRIBES. 

You may well imagine that the arrival of the 
Huns was like the introduction of a wasp into a bee- 
hive. It created an enormous commotion, and 
many of the German races changed their habitations. 

About the middle of the third century the numer- 
ous German tribes had united into great confedera- 
cies. The most important of these were — I. The 
Allemanni ; 2. The Franks , 3. The Saxons ; 4. The 
Goths. 

1. The Allemanni were so called from the custom 
of those in the South to own land in common. To 
this day, in Switzerland and Baden, there is much 
common land belonging to the parishes, as well as 
forest and quarry, and this goes by the name of the 
Allmend. The Allemanni lived in the South of 
Germany, in the Black Forest, and in German 
Switzerland, and in Wurtemberg, about the Lake of 
Constance. 

2. The Franks occupied the banks of the Rhine 
and the Main, to Niirnberg. The Ripuarian Franks 
lived on the Rhine, the Salic Franks on the river 
Saal. 

3. The Saxons spread over a great part of North 

29 




GERMAN SKIRMISHERS (GEFECHT'S-EROFFNER). (ROMAN 1'KKIOD.) 



30 



THE MIGRA TIONS OF THE TRIBES. 3 j 

Germany, taking the places vacated by the Lom- 
bards and the Burgundians. 

4. The Goths were divided by the Dnieper into 
the East Goths (Ostrogoths) and the West Goths 
(Visigoths), and were the most cultured of the Ger- 
man peoples. They had been converted to Chris- 
tianity by a bishop named Ulphilas, who translated 
the Bible into old Gothic, and his translations of the 
Gospels, written in silver letters on a purple ground, 
is still preserved, and is one of the treasures of the 
library of Upsala in Sweden. 

The appearance of the Huns in Germany created 
the utmost confusion. As already said, the Ostro- 
goths crossed the Danube and entered the Roman 
Empire. After awhile they made themselves mas- 
ters of Italy, under the famous King Theoderic. 

The Visigoths, or West Goths, descended on the 
South of Gaul, and made Toulouse their capital. 
The Vandals left their old home between the Elbe 
and Oder, invaded Spain, crossed over to Africa, 
and formed a kingdom on the north coast, with Car- 
thage as their capital. The Angles and a portion of 
the Saxons took ship in 449 for Britain, which they 
conquered. The Longobards, or Lombards, deserted 
the old watery, peaty region about the Middle Elbe 
and descended on the North of Italy. The Burgun- 
dians left their homes between the Oder and the 
Vistula, and formed the Burgundian kingdom be- 
tween the Rhone, the Saone, and the range of the 
Jura. 

As the Germans deserted the cold, sandy plains of 
North Germany, the Sclavs from the north-east crept 







MARCUS AUREL1US PARDONING GERMAN CHIEFS, 
(Triumphal Arch at Rome.) 



THE BEGINNING OF FRANCE. 



33 



after them, and occupied all Pomerania, Mecklen- 
burg, and Oldenburg. 

Those German peoples who had left Germany 
settled down in their new countries among popula- 
tions more civilized than themselves, and so they 
gradually acquired their habits, and lost their own 
language and peculiar institutions, even their Ger- 
man appearance and characters. Thus they dis- 
appeared, sinking into, and becoming absorbed by, 
the people they conquered, and the Burgundians, 
Goths, Vandals, and Lombards disappear com- 
pletely. The Franks, who had spread into Northern 
Gaul, gave to it the new name of France, but ceased 
on its soil to be Germans. 




VI. 



CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS. 

(481-51 1.) 

The Franks had extended themselves over the 
north of Gaul. They had a capital at Tournay, but 
they had gained power over what we now call 
Normandy. There was none to resist them. Gov- 
ernment in Gaul had fallen into confusion since 
the fall of the Roman Empire. The Salic Franks 
came from what is now called Lower Franconia, 
and take their name from the river Saal, which flows 
into the Main. It is a bare and not^a productive 
country, and so a portion of the Franks pushed their 
way into Belgium, and Flanders, and Normandy. I 
am using, you must understand, modern names. 
Thirty years after the battle of Chalons the Franks 
were not united into one nation ; there were several 
tribes of their name, independent one of another. In 
the year 481 Clovis became king of the Salic Franks 
in Belgium. The French call him Clovis, the old 
Germans, Clodwig, which is the same as the modern 
German Ludwig, and the French, Louis. He was 
fifteen years old when he became king, a proud, 
cunning, ambitious man, but with some natural good 
qualities. He determined to extend his power, so 

34 



KHEIMS PLUNDERED 



35 



he led his men against the Roman governor of 
Soissons, drove him out, and took the place, which 
he thenceforth made his capital. He and his people 
were pagans, and when they took a town they plun- 
dered the churches. On one of his expeditions he 
took Rheims, and when the spoil of the Cathedral 
was brought out and spread before the king and his 
nobles, the bishop of the place, Remigius, came to 
Clovis, and entreated that one beautiful chalice might 
be spared from the plunder, for the service of the 
altar. Clovis replied that by their rules all the 
spoil was divided into lots, and then lots were drawn 
for each division. However, if the chalice came to 
him, he would return it to the bishop, who had 
written him a kind letter, full of good advice, when 
he was made king. But as S. Remigius urged his 
request very earnestly, the king turned to his ckiefs 
and asked them to grant him the goblet over and 
above his proper share. All consented but one 
man, who suddenly swung his axe, and brought it 
down on the precious cup, saying, " No ! I will not 
consent ; all shall share alike." The king bore the 
affront without a word. The man had acted within 
his right. 

A year after Clovis held a grand parade, at which 
his nobles were to show their equipments. After 
having passed all in review, and examined their arms, 
the man came who had refused to give up the 
chalice. He was a truculent, ill-conditioned fellow, 
and his harness was rusty and dirty, and when he 
showed the king his battle-axe it was not clean. 
Then Clovis threw it down, and when the man 







*6 



HO W CLOVIS WOOED. 



17 



stooped to pick it up the king raised his axe and 
cleft his skull, saying, " Thus didst thou to the 
chalice of Rheims." It was an act of revenge, but 
the king was careful to act within his right. The 
man was bound to appear at the parade with all his 
equipments in perfect order. 

Clovis heard that Gundebald, King of Burgundy 
had a niece called Clothild, at Geneva.. Gundebald 
had murdered her father and her brothers, who stood 
in his way to the throne. Now Clovis was a very 
crafty man, and he wanted to pick a quarrel with 
Gundebald, so as to get hold of Burgundy. So he 
resolved to marry Clothild and make her quarrel his 
own ; but he did not want to marry her if she was 
not very beautiful. So he gave his ring to a friend, 
a Roman, called Aurelian, and told him to go 
in disguise to Geneva, and see Clothild, and if she 
were really beautiful to give her his ring and get 
hers in exchange. Aurelian dressed himself in rags, 
and went to Geneva, and knocked at her door and 
begged for food. Clothild at once invited him in, 
and brought water, and began herself to wash his 
travel-stained feet. Whilst she was thus engaged 
Aurelian stooped and whispered into her ear, " Lady, 
I must speak to you in secret." Then he showed 
her the ring, and said, " Clovis, King of the Franks, 
asks for you in marriage." Clothild considered a 
moment, then drew off her own ring and gave it to 
Aurelian. " Go back," she said, " to your master, 
and tell him if he takes me he must carry me away 
as fast as he can fly, for my uncle has a friend called 
Aridius, now away, who will advise him not to give 



,g CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS. 

me to Clovis." Then Aurelian hasted back to 
Soissons, and Clovis sent to Gundebald and asked 
for the hand of his niece. Gundebald, glad to be 
rid of her, consented that she should go. So Clo- 
thild started from Geneva. Clovis had sent a sort of 
waggon richly decorated for Clothild to travel in. 
She went in it some little way, and then became 
uneasy. She got out and said to the Frank lords 
who attended her, " I pray you give me a horse and 
let us leave the waggon in the road, and ride at full 
gallop, night and day, till we get out of Burgundy." 

She was right. After the consent had been given 
Aridius returned to Metz, where Gundebald was, 
and the king told his friend what he had done. 
Then Aridius exclaimed, " This is no bond of friend- 
ship, but the beginning of strife. Send troops at 
once in pursuit and bring your niece back." 

The king did so, but was too late. They came 
on the deserted waggon, but Clothild had escaped. 
The consequences were what Aridius had predicted. 
Clovis made war on Gundebald and made him his 
tributary. Clothild bore a son to Clovis. She was 
a Christian, and she begged her husband to let the 
child be baptized. He consented, but the boy died 
soon after. " There," exclaimed Clovis, " that is 
what comes of baptism." After some time she bore 
him another, and had much ado to get this one bap- 
tized. Soon after this boy also fell ill, and Clovis 
was very angry. But when the child recovered he 
began to think that perhaps Christian baptism was 
not as dangerous as he had supposed. Clothild 
was a very pious woman, and she often spoke to her 



CLOVIS PR A VS. 



39 



husband about Christ, but he did not seem to pay 
much heed to her words. 

At last, in the year 496, the Allemanni, — that is, 
the Germans of the Black Forest and Switzerland, 
and the Vosges — burst into the territories of the 
Franks, and Clovis marched against them and met 




GERMAN PRIESTESSES FOLLOWING THE ARMY. 
(Column of Marcus Aurelius at Rome.) 

them in the plain of Tolbiac, now called Zulpich, 
near Cologne. He had with him Aurelian, whom 
he had made Duke of Melun. The battle was go- 
ing ill ; the Franks were wavering and Clovis was 
anxious. Then Aurelian, who rode near him, sud- 
denly exclaimed, " My lord, there is no hope for 
us now but in the God of Queen Clothild." When 
Clovis heard this he dropped the reins, and holding 
up his hands to heaven cried, " Christ Jesus, whom 



40 



CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS. 



Clothild believes in, I have called on my gods, and 
they have withdrawn from me. Help thou me!" 
Then the tide of battle turned: the Franks recov- 
ered confidence and courage ; and the Allemanni, 
beaten, and seeing their king slain, surrendered 
themselves to Clovis. 

When Clovis was on his way back he came to 
Rheims, where the old bishop, Remigius, was, who 
had written good advice to him when he was a boy, 




GERMAN HODY-GUARD OF THE LATER C.^SARS. 
(Column of Trajan, Rome.) 

and who had asked for the chalice. The king was 
touched by the danger he had been in, and thank- 
ful for the victory. His wife came to him to 
strengthen his good resolutions, and he resolved to 
become a Christian. We have a very interesting 
and eurious account of the baptism of King Clovis, 
written by Hincmar, who was Bishop of Rheims 
some years after the death of Remigius. and who 
probably took it from an account by an eye-witness. 
" The bishop," he says, " went in search of the 
king at early morning to his bed-chamber, in order 
that he might communicate to him the truths of 



THE BAPTISM OF CLOVIS. 4! 

the Gospel before his mind was occupied with secu- 
lar cares. The chamberlains received him with 
great respect, and they went into the chapel of S. 
Peter near the palace. When the bishop, the king, 
and the queen had taken their places on the seats 
prepared for them, the bishop began his instructions 
on the way of salvation. Meanwhile, preparations 
were being made along the road from the palace to 
the baptistery ; curtains and valuable stuffs were 
hung up ; the houses on both sides of the street 
were dressed out ; the baptistery was sprinkled with 
balm and all kinds of perfume. The procession 
moved from the palace ; the clergy led the way, 
carrying the Gospels, the cross, and the banners, 
and singing hymns. Then came the bishop, lead- 
ing the king by the hand ; after him the queen ; 
lastly the people. On the road the king is said to 
have asked the bishop if that was the kingdom of 
heaven promised him. ' No,' answered the prelate, 
4 it is the beginning of the road to it ! ' When the 
king bared his head over the baptismal water, the 
bishop thus addressed him : * Bend thy head, Sicam- 
brian,* adore what thou hast burned, burn what 
thou hast adored ! ' " Three thousand Frankish 
men, together with women and children, were bap- 
tized the same day. 

Though Clovis had joined the Christian Church 
he was but a poor Christian. He led a life of war, 
and was brought under no other Christian influence 



* Clovis belonged to the tribe of Sicambri, which was in the Frank 
confederation. 



. , CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS, 

4- 

than that of his wife, and he did not think it manly 
to give car to her best advice. 

The Ripuarian Franks had their capital at Co- 
logne, and their king was Siegbert. Clovis sent to 
the king's son this message: "Your father is old, 
and lame of a leg. When he is dead I will be your 
friend, and you shall be king." That stirred up the 
young man to kill his father treacherously one day, 
as the old man was walking in a beech wood. Then 
he sent a messenger to Clovis to say that his father 
was dead, and that he would send him some of the 
old kings treasures. But when the wicked son was 
showing the messenger of Clovis the precious things 
in the treasure-house, he came to a great battle- 
axe. " See." said the young man, " this was my 
father's weapon." 

"And so does it avenge its master!" said the 
messenger, and he brought it down on the young 
man's head, and clove it. 

After that, the realm of the Ripuarian Franks fell 
to Clovis, as well as that of the Salic Franks, and 
Burgundy and a large portion of Gaul. 

He died in 511, at Paris, which he had made his 
capital ; and he left behind him a great Frank king- 
1 >m, which was divided between his four sons. 





















;JH$| 






Ts >^il 


Bl^pv 


Hi uw(^ 




O'fc ]j^ 


pplpll 


v^im 


*\^Sw 






[ '''vEv H 


llw^- 




l&W 


Kiw^ > *~ 


5S3Pi 


8/ 






akw 


EkJbSp J^k 


silssgg 




EJ 'W-^-^ 


llfew*- 


riftp^msi 







VII 



THE MAYORS OF THE PALACE. 



(751-768.) 



THE successors of Clovis, called, after an earlier 
Frank king. Merovingians, were weak creatures. 
They left the management of their kingdom to their 
Mayors of the Palace, and only showed themselves 
to their people once a year, at the March parliament, 
riding on a car drawn by oxen, after an old Frank 
custom, wearing their fair hair down to their waists, 
combed out and adorned with crowns. As they 
did nothing but eat and drink and enjoy themselves 
they went by the name of the sluggard kings, and 
all the real power was in the hands of the Mayor of 
the Palace for the time being. 

Among these mayors, Pepin of Heristal made 
himself conspicuous. His home was near Spa, in 
the pretty woodland country about Liege. He 
made the office hereditary in his family. His he- 
roic son, Charles Martel, or the Hammer, was still 
more famous, because he utterly routed the Arabs 
in a great battle at Tours in 732, who had con- 
quered Spain and the south of France, and threat- 
ened the whole of France. 

43 



THE MAYORS OF THE PALACE. 

His sons, Pepin the Short and Karlomann, suc- 
ceeded him, but Karlomann resigned his authority 
into his brother's hands, and, tired of fighting, 
entered a monastery. Pepin had much to do ; the 
Saxons, Bavarians, and Arabs were all menacing or 
revolting, and he had to fly from one part of the 
kingdom to another, defending its frontiers, and get- 
ting no help from the stupid sluggard king at Paris. 
At last, impatient of the farce, he sent this question 
to the Pope : " Who is king, he who governs or he 
who wears the crown?" "He who governs, of 
course," answered the Pope. " That is myself," said 
the little man with a great will ; " so the sluggards 
shall go to sleep forever," and he sent the last of 
them, Childeric III., into a monastery. Then his 
nobles put their shields together, and the little man 
was seated on a chair, on their shields, and they 
marched with him thus, shouting and raising their 
shields as high as they could, thrice, round the par- 
liament, and then he was anointed by S. Boniface, 
Archbishop of Mainz, A. I). 752. Pepin did not forget 
that he owed a debt of gratitude to the Pope for the 
answer he had given to his question, and when, 
shortly after, the Pope sent to complain of the 
trouble occasioned by the Lombards, Pepin crossed 
the Alps, chastised the Lombards, took from them 
all their territory about Rome and gave it to the 
Pope, to belong to him and to the bishops of Rome 
forever. That was the beginning of the Papal 
sovereignty. " The States of the Church," as they 
were called, remained under the sovereignty of the 
Popes till 1 87 1. 



A NEW KING, 



45 



Pepin died in 768, and left behind him two sons, 
Charles and Karlomann. The latter died a few years 
after, and then, with the consent of the great nobles, 



Charles became sole king. 




INVESTITURE OF A BISHOP BY A KING. 
(.From a Codex in St. Omer.) 



¥5% fiff'** ©^ 


^fc 


^JEllyl 













VIII. 



THE GERMANS HEAR THE GOSPEL. 



Where should you suppose that the earliest Irish 
manuscripts are to be found? Not in Ireland, but in 
Switzerland and Germany. The reason of this is 
that the Irish were the first preachers of the Gospel 
in Germany. In the 6th and /th centuries a 
perfect passion to do missionary work fired the 
monks of Ireland. In dreams and ecstasies they 
thought they saw the barbarous Germans crying to 
them from the gloom of their sombre pine woods 
to come over and bring them light. Then they got 
into rude boats of wicker-work covered with tanned 
hides, and paddled, or were blown across, to Eng- 
land. They traversed England and took boat 
again, and pushed up the Rhine, and Scheldt, and 
other rivers, till they found places where the people 
were all heathens, and there they established them- 
selves and taught. In 590 S. Columbanus ap- 
peared at the court of Guntram, King of Burgundy. 
He came from Ireland, and he established himself 
at Luxeuil, under the Jura, and when he was driven 
out he settled himself at Bobbio, in North Italy. 
His disciple, S. Gall, made himself a home in Switz- 
erland, in a forest, where he had difficulty to hold 
his own against the bears. He preached at Bre- 

46 




47 



4 8 



THE GERMANS HEAR THE GOSPEL. 



erenz at the head of the Lake of Constance, and 
threw the idols he found there into the lake. An- 
other Irishman, called Fridolin, planted himself at 
Seckingen, an island in the Rhine, under the slopes 
of the Black Forest. Another, Beatus, made him- 
self a home in a cave in the face of a precipice, 
above the Lake of Thun. Another, Fintan, who 
had been carried off by pirates and taken to Bel- 
gium, escaped from them, mounted the Rhine, and 
made Rheinau, near Schaffhausen, the place whence 
he taught the heathen. Foilan and Ultan, two 
Irish brothers, established themselves on the Meuse. 
Kilian, Colman, and Totnan made Wiirzburg the 
centre from which they taught, and there Kilian 
was martyred. Frigidian went further, and died at 
Lucca. Fursey preached among the Franks at 
Lagny, a little north of Paris. 

Thus it was that Christianity was brought among 
the Allemanni and the Franks. The Saxons were 
still heathen ; so were the Frisians, who occupied 
the present Holland. 

But though Christianity was brought into the 
heart of the land, and here and there a bishopric 
was established, everything was in disorder in those 
disturbed days, and in some places Christianity died 
out for want of a succession of missionaries ; and in 
others, those who were Christians, and even bishops 
and priests, were under no discipline, had received 
little instruction, and lived very little better than 
heathens. 

Then it was that S. Boniface, or, as he was called in 
his Devonshire home, Winifred, sailed from Ports- 






* I V X) I G 1 O, V O M E 




-*U d .9 "tt 1. A -JS t a N, 
~* c e T~ V g-~~0 B~ ~H o 




K^S J X. ,-S 



A JUDGMENT OF GOD. 
(Title-Page of Missal in Bamberg Library.) 



49 



5o 



THE GERMAXS HEAR THE GOSPEL. 






mouth for Germain', with a band of devoted men. 
He found that the little Christianity there was 
among- the Germans was of very poor quality. So 
he went to Rome to ask the Pope to authorize him 
to bring some order into the German church. 
Furnished with authority, and consecrated and 
appointed Archbishop of Mainz, and having re- 
ceived the name of Boniface, " Good-doer," from the 
Pope, he returned to Germany, and sent home to 
England for helpers. Many came, men and women, 
and he planted them where were most suitable cen 
tres. At Geismax, in Hesse, stood a huge old oak, 
dedicated to the god Donnar. The heathens made 
pilgrimages to this oak, and even converted 
Christians regarded it with religious awe, and told 
wonderful stories about it, and visited it to hear 
oracles from its dark whispering branches. One 
day when there was a great assembly at this oak on 
a festival of Donnar, Boniface went boldly to the 
place, unattended by armed men, but with an axe 
in his hands, and before all the pagan crowd began 
to hack at the tree. They drew back in dismay, 
expecting lightning to fall and consume him. Bon- 
iface did not rest till the oak was cut down, and fell 
with a crash. Then the heathen recognized the 
powerlessness of their gods, and their faith in them 
fell with the oak. 

Boniface did not content himself with preaching. 
Me said that the only way in which the Germans 
could be made good Christians was to civilize them ; 
accordingly, he established schools and monasteries 
where he could. The monks taught, but did not 



THE MONKS AS FARMERS. 



51 



teach only ; they drained the morasses, felled the 
trees, ploughed the soil, sowed corn, planted fruit 
trees, and carried on various trades. Those whom 
they converted they settled in cottages round their 
monasteries, and so, in time, these settlements grew 
into towns. 

When Boniface was old he went to carry the Gos- 
pel to the heathen Frisians. The pagans fell upon 
him and murdered him in the year 755, A.D. 




GERMANY CAPTIVE. 



IX. 



A MAN OF MARK. 



(768-814.) 

We come now to one of the greatest men of all 
times, Charles the Great, son of Pepin the Short, a 
man who has left his mark on history for all times. 
Charles — (called by the French Charlemagne) — was 
great in many ways, whereas most great men are 
great in one or two. He was a great warrior, a 
great political genius, an energetic legislator, a lover 
of learning, and a lover also of his natural language 
and poetry at a time when it was the fashion to 
despise them. And he united, and displayed, all 
these merits in a time of general and monotonous 
barbarism, when, save in the Church, the minds 
of men were dull and barren. 

^From 769 to 813, in Germany and Western and 
Northern Europe, Charlemagne conducted thirty- 
two campaigns against the Saxons, Frisians, Bava- 
rians, Avars, Slavs, and Danes ; in Italy, five 
against the Lombards; in Spain, Corsica, and Sar- 
dinia, twelve against the Arabs ; two against the 
Greeks; and three in Gaul itself, against the Aqui- 
tanians and Bretons. In all, fifty-three expedi- 
tions in forty-five years, amongst which those he 

5 2 




CHARLEMAGNE. 
CFrom the painting by Durcr.) 



53 



34 



A MAX OF MARK, 



undertook against the Saxons, the Lombards, and 
the Arabs were long and difficult warsy^ 

The kingdom of • Charles was vasf; it comprised 
nearly all Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, 
and the North of Italy and of Spain. He had, in 
ruling this mighty realm, to deal with different 
nations, without cohesion, and to grapple with their 
various institutions and bring them into system. 

The first great undertaking of Charles was against 
the Saxons. They were still heathen, and were a 
constant source of annoyance to the Franks, for 
they made frequent inroads to pillage and destroy 
their towns and harvests. 

In the line of mountains which forms the step 
from Lower into Upper Germany, above the West- 
phalian plains, is one point at which the river Weser 
breaks through and flows down into the level land, 
about three miles above the town of Minden. This 
rent in the mountains is called the YVestphalian 
Gate. The hills stand on each side, like red sandstone 
door-posts, and one is crowned by some crumbling 
fragments of a castle ; it is called the Wittekinds- 
berg, and takes its name from Wittekind, a Saxon 
king, who had his castle there. Wittekind was a 
stubborn heathen, and a very determined man. In 
"2 Charles convoked a great assembly at Worms, 
at which it was unanimously resolved to march 
against the Saxons and chastise them for their in- 
cursions. Charles advanced along the Weser, 
through the gate, destroyed Wittekind's castle, 
pushed on to Paderborn, where he threw down an 
idol adored by the Saxons, and then was obliged to 






ft I* 







55 






56 A MAN OF MARK. 

return and hurry to Italy to fight the Lombards, who 
had revolted. Next year he invaded Saxony again. 
He built himself a palace at Paderborn, and sum- 
moned the Saxon chiefs to come and do homage. 
Wittekind alone refused, and fled to Denmark. No 
sooner had Charles gone to fight the Moors in 
Spain than Wittekind returned, and the Saxons 
rose at his summons, and, bursting into Franconia, 
devastated the land up to the walls of Cologne. 
Charles returned and fought them in two great bat- 
tles, defeated them, erected fortresses in their midst, 
and carried off hostages. Affairs seemed to pros- 
per, and Charles deemed himself as securely master 
of Saxony as Varus had formerly in the same 
country, and under precisely the same circumstances. 
Charles then quitted the country, leaving orders for 
a body of Saxons to join his Franks and march to- 
gether against the Slavs. The Saxons obeyed the 
call with alacrity, and soon outnumbered the 
Franks. One day, as the army was crossing the 
mountains from the Weser, at a given signal the 
Saxons fell on their companions and butchered 
them. 

When the news of this disaster reached Charles 
he resolved to teach the Saxons a terrible lesson. 
Crossing the Rhine, he laid waste their country 
with fire and sword, and forced the Saxons to sub- 
mit to be baptized, and accept Christian teachers. 
Those who refused he killed. At Verdun he had 
over four thousand of the rebels beheaded. At 
Detmold, Wittekind led the Saxons in a furious bat- 



WITTEKIND IS BAPTIZED. 



57 



tie, in which neither gained the victory. In another 
battle, on the Hase, they were completely routed. 

Then Wittekind submitted, came into the camp of 
Charles, and asked to be baptized. A little ruined 
chapel stands on the Wittekindsberg, above the 
Westphalian Gate, and there, according to tradition, 
near the overturned walls of his own castle, the 
stubborn heathen bowed the neck to receive the 
yoke of Christ. Charles' two nephews, the sons of 
Karlomann, were with Desiderius, the Lombard 
king, and Desiderius tried to force the Pope to anoint 




CHARLEMAGNE S SIGNATURE. 



them kings of the Franks, to head a revolt against 
Charles. When the great king heard this he came 
over the Alps into Italy, dethroned Desiderius, and 
shut him up in a monastery. Then he crowned 
himself with the iron crown of the Lombard kings, 
which was said to have been made out of one of the 
nails that fastened Christ to the cross. 

Duke Thassilo of Bavaria had married a daughter 
of Desiderius, and he refused to acknowledge the 
authority of Charles. He also stirred up the Avars 
who lived in Hungary to invade the Frankish 
realm. Charles marched against Thassilo, drove 



3* 



A MAX OF MARK 



him out of Bavaria, subdued the Avars, and con- 
verted the country between the Ems and Raab — 
that is, Austria proper — into a province, which was 
called the East March, and formed the begin- 
ning of the East Realm (Oesterreich), or Austria. 

Charles also fought the Danes, and took from 
them the country up to the river Eider. 

When we consider what continuous fighting 
Charles had, it is a wonder to us that he had time 
to govern and make laws; but he devoted as much 
thought to arranging his realm and placing it under 
proper governors as he did to extending its fron- 
tiers. 

Charles constituted the various parts of his vast 
empire — kingdoms, duchies, and counties. He was 
himself the sovereign of all these united, but 
he managed them through counts and vice-counts. 
The frontier districts were called marches, and 
were under march-counts, or margraves. Count 
is not a German title ; the German equivalent is graf, 
and the English is earl. The counties were di- 
vided into hundreds ; a hundred villages went to a 
vice-count. He had also Counts of the Palace, who 
ruled over the crown estates, and send-counts 
(missi), whom he sent out yearly through the coun- 
try to see that his other counts did justice, and did 
not oppress the people. If people felt themselves 
wronged by the counts they appealed to these 
send-counts, and if the send-counts did not do them 
justice they appealed to the palatine-counts. 

Every year Charles summoned his counts four 
times, when he could, but always once, in May, to 



LIBERAL ARTS PROSPER. 



59 



meet him in council, and discuss the grievances of the 
people. As the great dukes were troublesome, be- 
cause so powerful, Charles tried to do without them, 
and to keep them in check. He gave whole princi- 
palities to bishops, hoping that they would be sup- 
porters of him and the crown against the powerful 
dukes. 

He was also very careful for the good government 
of the Church. He endowed a number of mon- 
asteries to serve as schools for boys and girls. 
He had also a collection of good, wholesome ser- 
mons made in German, and sent copies about in all 
directions, requiring them to be read to the people 
in church. He invited singers and musicians 
from Italy to come and improve the performance of 
divine worship, and two song-schools were estab- 
lished, one at Gall, another at Metz. His Franks, 
he complained, had not much aptitude for music ; 
their singing was like the howling of wild beasts, 
or the noise made by the squeaking, groaning 
wheels of a baggage waggon over a stony road. 
Charles was particularly interested in schools, and 
delighted in going into them and listening to the 
boys at their lessons. One day when he had paid 
such a visit he was told that the noblemen's sons 
were much idler than those of the common citizens. 
Then the great king grew red in the face and 
frowned, and his eyes flashed. He called the young 
nobles before him and said in thundering tones: 
" You grand gentlemen ! you young puppets ! You 
puff yourselves up with the thoughts of your rank and 
wealth, and suppose you have no need of letters ! I 



£ Q ./ MAN OF MARK. 

tell you that your pretty faces and your high no- 
bility are accounted nothing by me. Beware ! be- 
ware ! Without diligence and conscientiousness 
not one of you gets anything from me." 

Charles dearly loved the grand old German poems 
of the heroes, and he had them collected and 
copied out. Alas! they have been lost. His stu- 
pid son, thinking them rubbish, burnt them all. 
The great king also sent to Italy for builders, and 
set them to work to erect palaces and churches. 
His favorite palaces were at Aix and at Ingelheim. 
At the latter place he had a bridge built over the 
Rhine. At Aix he built the Cathedral with pillars 
taken from Roman ruins. It was quite circular, 
with a colonnade going round it; inside, it remains 
almost unaltered to the present day. 

He was very eager to promote trade, and so far 
in advance of the times was he that he resolved to 
cut a canal so as to connect the Main with the 
Reffnitz, and thus make a waterway right across 
Germany, from the Rhine to the Danube, and so 
connect the German Ocean with the Black Sea. 
The canal was begun, but wars interfered with its 
completion, and the work was not carried out till 
the present century, by Louis I., of Bavaria. 

Charles was a tall, grand-looking man, nearly 
seven feet high. He was so strong that he could 
take a horseshoe in his hands and snap it. He ate 
and drank in moderation, and was grave and dig- 
nified in his conduct. 

In the year 800 an insurrection broke out in 
Rome against Pope Leo III. Whilst he was riding 



C HARLEM A ONE CRO WNED A T ROME. 6 j 

in procession his enemies fell on him, threw him 
from his horse, and an awkward attempt was made 
to put out his eyes and to cut ou.t- his tongue. 
Then, bleeding atid insensible, he was put in a 
monastery. The Duke of Spoleto, a Frank, hear- 
ing of this, marched to Rome and removed the 
wounded pope to Spoleto, where he was well nursed 
and recovered his eyesight and power of speech. 
Charles was very indignant when he heard of the 
outrage, and he left the Saxons, whom he was fight- 
ing, and came to Italy to investigate the circum- 
stance. He assumed the office of judge, and the 
guilty persons were sent into prison in France. 
Then came Christmas Day, the Christmas of the 
last year in the eighth century of Christ. Charles 
and all his sumptuous court, the nobles and people 
of Rome, the whole clergy of Rome, were present 
at the high services of the birth of Christ. The 
Pope himself chanted the mass ; the full assembly 
were wrapt in profound devotion. At the close 
the Pope rose, advanced towards Charles with a 
splendid crown in his hands, placed it upon his 
brow, and proclaimed him Caesar Augustus. " God 
grant life and victory to the great emperor ! " 
His words were lost in the acclamations of the 
soldiery, the people, and the clergy. 

Charles was taken completely by surprise. What 
the consequences would be to Germany and to the 
Papacy, how fatal to both, neither he nor Leo 
could see. So Charlemagne became King of Italy 
and Emperor of the West — the successor of the 
Caesars of Rome. 



<>J 



A M AX OF MARK. 



When Charles felt that his end was approaching 
he summoned all his nobles to Aix, into the church 
he had there erected. There, on the altar, lay a 
golden crown. Charles made his son, Ludwig, or 
Louis, stand before him, and, in the audience of his 
great men, gave him his last exhortation : to fear 
God and to love his people as his own children, to 
do right and execute justice, and to walk in in- 
tegrity before God and man. With streaming eyes, 
Louis promised to fulfil his father's command. 
" Then," said Charles, " take this crown, and place 
it on your own head, and never forget the promise 
you have made this day." 

A few months later, Charles died (814). He 
was buried robed in full imperial raiment, with a 
crown on his head, the purple mantle over his 
shoulders, girded with his great sword, the book of 
the Gospels on his knees, seated on a marble throne, 
and with a pilgrim's pouch at his side. He was 
buried under the dome of the church at Aix, and 
there to this day may be seen the great stone that 
covers his tomb, with nothing engraved on it but 
Carolo Magno. In the year 1165 the tomb was 
opened, and the body found as thus described. 




SILVER PIECES OF CHARLEMAGNE. 



X. 



THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. 



BEFORE we go any further with the history of 
Germany it is necessary that we should get some 
clear idea of the empire of which Charles the Great 
was constituted head when the Pope on Christmas 
Day crowned him in S. Peter's Church at Rome. 

The old Roman Empire, of which Augustus had 
been the first imperial head, had fallen into decrepi- 
tude, and Constantine had transferred the capital 
from Rome to Byzantium. Since his death many 
emperors had succeeded to the title, but none had 
been able to maintain the Empire in its ancient 
integrity and splendour. 

Before Constantine the Empire had been heathen, 
Rome and her princes had been enemies of the 
Church, drunk with the blood of the saints. But 
from the conversion of Constantine onward Rome 
and Christianity had formed so close an alliance 
that the names Roman and Christian had become 
almost synonymous. The emperors presided at 
councils of the Church, and protected the faith 
with edicts and with the sword. Thus the Empire, 
which had once be*en the bitterest foe of the Gos- 
pel, now became inseparably connected with its 

63 



^ 



THE I JULY ROMAN KM TIRE. 



profession. The Empire became holy, and a spe- 
cial sanctity was thought to be attached to the 
emperor as temporal head of the great Christian 
body. " The successor of Mahomet inherited alike 
the temporal and the spiritual functions of the 
prophet. In the Mahometan system, Church and 
State needed not to be united, because they had 
never been distinct. But closely as the Roman 
Empire and the Christian Church became united, 
one might almost say identified, traces still re- 
mained of the days when they had been distinct 
and hostile bodies. The bishop's commission was 
divine, proceeding neither from the prince nor from 
the people. Of such an organization the emperor 
might become the patron, the protector, the exter- 
nal rule, but he could not strictly become the 
head." * 

Italy was overrun by the Lombards. The em- 
perors in Constantinople became weaker, less able 
to maintain their dignity and to protect their do- 
minions. At last the imperial crown rested on the 
head of a woman, Irene, who had raised herself to 
power by deposing and blinding her own son. That 
a woman should occupy the throne of Augustus was 
preposterous to the nations of the West, already 
indignant at the weakness of the emperors in By- 
zantium. And then, Charles seemed to the eyes 
of those in Italy the grandest and most suitable 
figure toiill the imperial throne. The coronation 
of Charles was a revolt, a justifiable revolt of the 

■*■ 

* Freeman : Historical Essays. "The- Holy Roman Empire." 



THE CHRISTIAN EMPERORS. 



65 



West against the feeble " rois faineants " of the 
East. As Pepin had been declared by the Pope 
the true sovereign instead of the sluggard Merovin- 
gians, so now the Pope declared the son of Pepin 
true emperor, instead of the sluggard Byzantines. 

Thenceforth, in the eyes of the West and of the 
Church in the West, Charlemagne and his successors, 
who were crowned by the Pope, were regarded as 
the true emperors of the Christian world, the true 
successors of Augustus and Antoninus, as the true 
temporal heads of the Holy Roman Empire. 

Not every king of Germany was emperor, but 
only such as were crowned by the Pope. The 
Pope claimed to be the spiritual head of the 
Church, the viceroy acting for Christ in His king- 
dom. Before His death Christ said : " He that hath 
no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." 
Then the disciples said to Him, " Lord, behold, 
here are two swords/' And He said unto them, 
u It is enough." Upon this text a theory was 
founded that Christ gave to His Church, and to the 
Pope as the spiritual head of His Church, the two 
swords of spiritual and temporal power, but that, 
as it was inexpedient for the Pope in his spiritual 
capacity to wield the sword of temporal menace, 
he delegated it to a temporal sovereign, and that 
thus the Pope in sacred matters remained the 
spiritual ruler, whilst the emperor exercised the 
delegated authority in temporal matters. The 
Pope cut off with the sword of excommunication, 
and the emperor with the sword of justice. You 
must bear this theory well in mind, or you will 



66 



THE HO J A- ROM AX EMPIRE. 



never get a right notion of what is meant by the 
Holy Roman Kmpire, and if you do not lay hold of 
this' you lose the key to the history of Germany in 
the Middle Ages. 




ST. MICHAEL, THE PATRON SAINT OF THE EMPIRE. 
(Sculpture in the Cathedral of Bamberg, 12th Century.) 



fig H'-!,^^K^ ; h[ 


Ijfc^^ 






?P513i 


^i!'* 


^m 


Jfc6&*?^ 



XL 

A KING PIOUS BUT NARROW. 

(814-840.) 

LOUIS, the son of Charles the Great, resembled 
his father in size, but in that only. He was a nar- 
row-minded and irresolute man, giving way to his 
violent passions and then being rilled with remorse ; 
a man sincerely desirous of doing what was right, but 
without self-control. He had not the genius of his 
father to manage the great empire he had founded. 
One instance of his character will show the sort of 
man he was. Louis had a nephew, Bernard, son of 
his elder brother, Pepin, whom. Charles the Great 
had made King of Italy. He was suspicious of 
Bernard and ordered him to appear before him at 
Chalons. Pepin was dead, and Bernard was dan- 
gerous, or might be, as a rival. Bernard hesitated, 
so Louis got his wife, the Empress Irmgard, to send 
Bernard his solemn assurance that he would be 
allowed to come and go in safety. "Relying on this 
promise Bernard came to court, when Louis caused 
his eyes to be torn out in so barbarous a manner 
that he died a few days after. That was in April, 
818. A little later the Empress Irmgard fell ill 
and died. Louis was passionately attached to her, 

67 



53 A A'/XG riOUS BUT NARROW. 

and her death brought home to him the crime he 
had committed, and he was stung with remorse, 
(iricf for what he had done never left him, and it 
made him earnest in his prayers and efforts to do 
good, so that he was given the name of "The 
Pious. 

His next wife was Jutta, daughter of a certain 
Welf, the Count of Bavaria, a clever woman, who 
at once did all in her power to reconcile the friends 
of the murdered Bernard. Louis had three sons 
by his first wife, Irmgard. Their names were Lo- 
thair, Pepin, and Louis. By Jutta he had another, 
Charles, who was his favorite. Before Louis 
married Jutta he divided his great empire into 
three parts, one for each of his sons by Irm- 
gard ; but when Charles was born, he wanted 
to make a change, and divide it into four, so that 
Charles might have a share. This made the three 
elder angry, and they rebelled against their father, 
seized him, and brought charges of witchcraft 
against their step-mother, Jutta. But this out- 
raged the feelings of the great nobles, and the peo- 
ple murmured threatening!}'. Lothair was obliged 
to let his father go. In his rage, however, he took 
the town of Chalons, which held to his father, 
burned it, and murdered the son and daughter of 
Duke Bernard, of Septimania, who was the adviser 
of his father and guardian of the little Charles. 
The poor girl was at school in a convent. He fast- 
ened her up in a wine cask and threw her into the 
river. 

Lothair's brothers, Pepin and Louis, were jealous 




ELECTION OF A KING. 
(Heidelberg MS.) 



6 9 



y Q A KING PIOUS BUT NARROW. 

of him, and they leagued against him, under the 
pretext that they could not countenance his con- 
duct to their father. Thereupon, a new division of 
the empire was made, between Pepin, Louis, and 
Charles, to the exclusion of Lothair. 

The weak-minded emperor was thenceforth pow- 
erless. The rest of his reign was spent in vain en- 
deavors to reconcile his quarrelsome sons. After 
the death of Louis the Pious, which took place 
in 840, war broke out between the brothers, of 
whom, fortunately, there was now one less, for 
Pepin had died. But Pepin had left a son, with the 
same name, who inherited his kingdom of Aqui- 
taine. Louis — called, to distinguish him from his 
father, " The German " — and Charles wanted to 
snatch Aquitaine from him, but he was supported 
by Lothair, his other uncle. 

A great battle was fought in 841 at Fontenay, in 
Burgundy, between Louis and Charles, united 
against Lothair. A hundred thousand men fell, 
and Lothair was defeated. He fled to Aix, where 
he melted up the great silver tables of Charle- 
magne into coin, and with bribes and promises 
stirred up the Saxons to a general revolt. In view 
of this danger Charles and Louis met at the head of 
their armies near Strasburg, and made a solemn 
alliance. The words of the oath have been pre- 
served. Louis and his soldiers took it in German, 
Charles and his in French; and this is the earliest 
specimen we have of the French language, which 
was thus forming out of a mixture of the Gaulish, 
Latin, and German dialects, which were melting up 



GERMANY INDEPENDENT OE FRANCE. 



71 



and fusing in the country we now call France. 
This was in 842. 

Next year a treaty was concluded between all 
three brothers at Verdun, by which Lothair was 
granted the imperial crown, and the Netherlands, 
the Rhine country, Burgundy, and Italy, which was 
called after him — Lotharingia. That portion of his 
kingdom which afterwards came to be held to- 
gether was called by the French Lorraine. Louis 
the German was given all Germany east of Lo- 
tharingia, and Charles, who was nicknamed " The 
Bald," had as his share all France west of Lotha- 
ringia. 

Thus, through the Treaty of Verdun in 843, 
Germany became an independent kingdom, and its 
history detaches itself from that of France. 








XII. 



A NEW SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 

As you have already heard, the North Germans 
had always been in the habit of holding lands and 
handing them on to their sons. This was not the 
case in South Germany; there, no one had as much 
land as he could put his foot on. The land was 
held to belong to the community, and was parcelled 
out every year in lots among the various house- 
holders who made up a village. This was all very 
well in a rude state of society, but it was most in- 
convenient after agriculture had been introduced, 
and it was modified in various ways. 

The Frank monarchs combined the principle of 
the North German and the South German tenure. 
They proclaimed that all the land belonged to the 
crown, but the' crown gave it back to the land- 
holders on certain conditions, to have and to hold. 
from generation to generation, so long as they ful- 
filled these conditions. These land-holders were 
the nobles, — barons. These barons, in like manner, 
parcelled up their land into farms and let the farms 
to farmers on the same condition, to have and to 
hold, from generation to generation, not to be dis- 
possessed so long as they fulfilled the conditions. 

72 



RELA TION OF THE PEOPLE TO THE KING. 73 

The conditions were these : the farmers were 
bound to furnish so many fighting-men, and so much 
food to the baron, and to work for him so many 
days in the year. The baron on his part had his 
castle, and he was bound to furnish the king with 
so many fighting-men and to administer justice on 
the land of his barony. He was responsible to the 
count, and the count to the king. When a baron 
died without a son, his barony fell back to the 
crown, and was given away to another. The count 
had to see that the barons administered justice ; 
and the send-counts appointed by Charlemagne 
went about the country seeing that the counts did 
their duty. This was the feudal system. Every 
man was bound by duties, and no man could call 
anything his own unless he discharged his duties. 

In the south of Germany, the nobles did not 
like this new system at all. Welf, Count of Bavaria, 
had a son, Henry. Louis the Pious, who had mar- 
ried Jutta, Welf's daughter, offered to give Henry 
some land on the new principle ; but the old Bava- 
rian forbade his son to take it. However, Jutta 
persuaded her brother to do as the emperor of- 
fered, which was that he should have and hold as 
much land as he could run a gold plough round 
whilst the emperor slept. When the old Welf 
heard that his son had done this he was so offended 
that he hid himself for the rest of his days in the 
Black Forest. 

You see by this feudal system no man could sell 
his property out and out ; he could only sell it sub- 
ject to the king's consent, and subject to the duties 



A NEW SYSTEM OE GOVERNMENT. 

it entailed, or pawn what he got from it, without 
freeing himself from the responsibilities. 

We shall see later how the towns were governed 
on the same principle. 












^^F^ /TV iRp 


^*^*^^^ 


Sk Jv, tSmM 




PRv\ml 


Iw f/M 




^t^SI 


yw/1 




^^vjjyj^l 


jft^ir^BM 


9mi&'' 7^1 


WwJj' ^2&\ 


iJE^i&s 


/]^-^^^^yj 






~~-~_ J\T "" s ^^QMSQ 



XIII. 

TROUBLE COMING. 
(840-911.) 

THE successors of Louis the Pious were Charles 
the Fat, Arnulf, and Louis the Child. 

One day Charles the Great was looking from his 
window by the sea, when he saw some white sails 
on the far horizon, shimmering along like sea-gulls. 
Those who were in the room with him heard him 
sigh heavily. " Sire, what troubles you ? " He 
pointed to the white sails. " I see a coming trouble 
there," he answered. The sails belonged to the 
Northmen. After the death of Louis the Pious, 
the incursions of the Northmen became indeed a 
trouble. In France, as you know, they conquered 
and formed Normandy. They made sad havoc in 
England, and Alfred had hard battles to fight before 
he could drive them back ; but there also they 
founded a kingdom in Northumbria. Charles the 
Fat was too lazy to meet and fight the Northmen ; 
he bought them off with gold. This created general 
disgust ; a great assembly of the nobles and people 
was held at Tribur on the Rhine, and he was 
declared incapable of governing and was deposed. 
His brother's son, Arnulf, succeeded him. He was 

75 



7 6 



TROUBLE COMING. 



a good king, very courageous and active, but was 
cut off by poison after a short reign. He was suc- 
ceeded by his son Louis, aged six. Under him 
Germany went through many years of suffering. 
The Magyars, or Hungarians, invaded the country 
nearly every year, ravaging it, plundering .the 
churches, burning the towns, and butchering or 
carrying away into captivity the unhappy people. 
The Germans fought on foot with long two-handed 
swords, or with balls covered with spikes which were 
attached by chains or thongs to a stick, and which 
they swung about and brought down on the heads 
of their enemies. The Hungarians were mounted 
on fleet horses and were armed with bows, so that 
the Germans could not come to close quarters with 
them. Then the great vassals took advantage of 
the fact that the king was a child to enlarge their 
own dominions and reduce his power. ^ y Woe to 
thee, O land, when thy king is a childJf "said Solo- 
mon of old, and Germany experienced the truth of 
his saying. One little anecdote of the times may 
be quoted. Ulric, Count of Linzgau, was carried 
away a prisoner by the Hungarians. His beautiful 
wife remained behind. She believed him to be dead. 
Years passed and she heard nothing of him. She 
refused to marry again, but lived quietly in her castle, 
doing good to all who were near. One day a poor 
beggar came to her door, dressed in rags, with bare 
and bleeding feet, and hair almost white. The 
countess at once came down to give him food, 
when, with a cry, he threw his arms round her neck 
and kissed her. The attendants rushed to interfere, 






COUNT ULRJC RETURNS. 



77 



but he waved them away with his hand, and the 
tears ran down his brown, furrowed cheeks. " Let 
me hold her to my heart once more. I have suffered 
blows and famine these many years, and had no love. 
I am Ulric, your lord." 

The young king died in 91 1, before he had come 
of age to rule, and with him ended the race of 
Charlemagne in Germany. 




XIV. 



HOW HENRY THE FOWLER RULED. 



(919-936.) 

FROM the time of the death of Louis the Child the 
crown ceased to be hereditary. The great vassals 
elected the king. Though the kingship was not 
hereditary, it was usual to elect the son or some near 
relative of the late emperor, so long as a suitable 
person was found in the family to hold the office. 
Also the kings, during their lives, did what they 
could to insure the succession to their own families. 
By this change one great advantage was gained : 
the Germans made sure that they should be governed 
by able princes ; but, on the other hand, this great 
disadvantage came of it, that the vassals were able 
to make themselves too powerful, and to rule almost 
quite independently of the emperor in their own 
lands. The kings were obliged to bribe and favour 
the great nobles to secure them to vote for their sons, 
and so the central power of the crown was weakened 
and the unity of Germain- dissolved. It must be 
remembered that the German kimrs claimed also to 
be kings of Italy, and, by virtue of their coronation 
by the popes, to be emperors of Rome. So they 
were crowned twice, once at Aix — in aftertimes at 

78 



A DANGEROUS NECKLACE. 



79 



Frankfort, as kings of Germany — afterwards at Rome 
as emperors. So they were ever distracted from 
what should have been their chief care, — to bring 
Germany into unity and subjection, — by the craze 
that they were the descendants of the emperors of 
Rome, and by their efforts to re-establish the great 
old Empire, not now as a pagan power, but, as they 
called it, a Holy Roman Empire. When Pope Leo 
III., on Christmas Day, 800, crowned and proclaimed 
Charles the Great as emperor, he did, without know- 
ing it, the greatest mischief he could to Germany. 
He diverted the ambitions of the kings of Germany 
for seven hundred years from their proper duties at 
home, and sent them wild-goose hunting in Italy. 

The first king who was chosen, after the death of 
Louis, was Conrad, a Frank duke. He got into 
contest with Henry, the young Duke of Saxony. 
Archbishop Hatto, of Mainz, sent Henry a present 
of a necklace for his throat, made of twisted gold 
formed to act like a spring, so that he could pass it 
over his head and it would close tight on his throat. 
Henry put it on, and the gold shrank so tight as 
nearly to throttle him. He had never seen a spring 
coil before, and the chain had to be broken off him. 
He was very angry, and declared that the bishop 
wanted to strangle him by this ingenious artifice. 
So he entered some of the bishop's lands with an 
army ; thereupon the emperor marched to protect 
the archbishop. A battle was fought and the 
Franks were defeated. Then a peace was patched 
up. Not long after Conrad died, without leaving 
any sons. On his death-bed he called to him his 



So HOI? HENRY THE FOWLER RULED. 

brother Eberhard, and said : " My hours are num- 
bered. I know that no man is worthier to take the 
throne than my enemy, Henry of Saxony. Do not 
you think of yourself in opposition to the general 
good. We Franks have might, and strong cities, and 
all that royal splendour requires ; but something 
more than that is needed : great prudence and wis- 
dom, and that Henry has. When I am dead take 
him the crown and the sacred lance, the gold arm- 
lets, the sword, and the purple mantle of the old 
kings, and so make Henry your friend. Tell him 
and the princes that my dying advice is, that he 
should succeed me." 

Directly Conrad was dead, the electors met and 
chose Henry. They sent Eberhard and others to 
announce his election to him, and found him out 
bird-catching, with a hawk on his wrist, in the Harz 
Mountains. He was thenceforth called " The 
Fowler." He obeyed the call of the nation without 
delay. The error he had committed in rebelling 
against the state he firmly resolved to atone for by 
his conduct as emperor. Of lofty stature, although 
slight and youthful in form, with a handsome face, 
a clear eye, and a pleasant smile, his very appear- 
ance won hearts to him. Besides these personal ad- 
vantages, he was intelligent, eager for knowledge, 
and had much good sense. His wife, Bertha, was an 
excellent woman, who wove and spun, and there- 
are seals remaining that represent her spinning, 
seated on her throne as an empress. 

His first idea was how to protect the land from 
that incessant plague, the Hungarian incursions. 



THE HUNGARIANS BOUGHT OFF. 



8l 



He formed his plan, which was not liked by his 
nobles at first, because they did not understand 
what he aimed at. He bought peace of the Hun- 




THE HEERBANN — CALLING OUT THE MILITIA. 
(Heidelberg MSS.) 

garians for nine years by promising them a yearly 
tribute. But this was not through cowardice ; he 
wanted to gain time. During those nine years he 
occupied himself in building strong fortresses dot- 



g 2 HOW HENRY THE FOWLER RULED. 

ted about along the frontiers, and filling them with 
munitions of war and well-trained soldiers. These 
were called burgs, and were placed under the com- 
mand of counts, called burgraves. Hitherto the 
Germans had not lived in walled towns, and had a 
great dislike to doing so. Henry ordered that out 
of every nine freemen who lived on their lands, one 
should be always on guard in the burg, and that the 
other eight should support him. By degrees, the 
Germans on the frontier saw what protection these 
burgs gave them, and they gathered about them, 
and closed walls round their collection of houses, 
and formed the walled towns of Germany. 

When the nine years were elapsed, and Henry 
stopped the tribute, he was ready for the Hunga- 
rians. They sent to him as usual the tenth year 
for the money, but he threw a dead mangy dog at 
their feet, and told them that was all they should 
have from him and his Germans for the future. 
The ambassadors returned with fury in their 
hearts, and the Hungarians poured over the fron- 
tier in two enormous hordes. They found them- 
selves troubled with the strong burgs, which they 
could not take, and which menanced their rear if 
they advanced. Moreover, Henry's men were full 
of confidence, for they could always fall back within 
walls if they found the Hungarians too strong for 
them. Henry had a great banner painted of St. 
Michael trampling on the dragon, with wings of 
blazen gold, and had it carried before his army. A 
furious battle was fought near Merscburg, and 
thirty thousand Hungarians were killed. The re- 



KNIGHTHOOD INSTITUTED. 



3.3 



mainder fled. The terror of the Hungarians now 
equalled that with which they had formerly inspired 
the Germans. In their belief, the Angel Michael 
was the German god of victory, and they made 
golden wings like those borne by the angel on the 
banner and fastened them to their own idols, in 
hopes thereby of making them like Michael. From 
the fact that Henry had been the builder or 
founder of so many cities that grew up about his 
burgs, he got the name of Henry " the City Builder," 
as well as " the Fowler." 

Another institution of Henry's was the knight- 
hood. There were at that time a good number of 
freemen, younger brothers of those holding land, 
who hired themselves at different courts, or who 
robbed on the highways. They did not know ex- 
actly what to do with themselves ; there were not 
then many openings for men, and they were too 
proud to serve as foot soldiers. Henry offered 
those who had been robbers a free pardon, and in- 
vited the rest to come and serve the empire. They 
were to be called knights, — that is, servants of the 
crown, — and he organized them into a body of 
mounted cavalry, and imposed on them certain con- 
ditions, which made the rank of a knight one of 
honour. The story goes that Henry and some of 
his nobles were discussing the proofs required to 
show that a soldier deserved this rank. Then 
said Henry, " First, he must not, by word or 
deed, wrong the Mother Church." " Nor," added 
the Count Palatine Conrad, " nor hurt the Holy 
Roman Empire." Then Berthold of Bavaria said 



84 



HOW HENRY THE FOWLER RULED. 



" He must not be a liar." " Nor," said Hermann of 
Swabia, 4< have injured a weak woman." " No, nor 
run away in battle," said Conrad of Franconia. So 
these were made the laws of knighthood, to be true 
to church and country, true in everything, gentle to 
women, and courageous. 




XV. 



THE HUNGARIANS BURST IN AGAIN. 



(936-9730 

TWENTY-TWO years after the Hungarians had been 
defeated at Merseburg they once more burst into 
Germany. They were so numerous that they 
boasted that their horses would drink the rivers dry 
and stamp the towns to dust. They pushed up the 
Danube to where the river Lech joins it, and there 
turned south and followed up this river to the great 
and wealthy city of Augsburg. They had been 
disappointed of spoil. They had traversed long 
tracts of rubble of white limestone with willows 
sprouting between the stones; no rich towns, only 
poor villages, few and far between. They were hun- 
gry for spoil, and they knew that Augsburg would 
furnish abundance. Augsburg stood on the great 
trade road from Italy into the heart of Germany. 
It was full of merchants who were as wealthy as 
princes. It was an old Roman town, and had, no 
doubt, at one time been surrounded by walls. At 
this time it had a very prudent bishop, named 
Ulric. For some time he had suspected mischief was 
brewing, before others were aware of the danger, 
and he persuaded the citizens to rebuild their walls. 

8S 



so 



THE HUNGARIANS HURST IX AGAJX. 



These were fortunately finished just before the 
Hungarians attacked the place. As soon as Uhic 
heard that they were coming he sent to his brother, 
who was Count of Kyburg,* and to Duke Burkhard 




HENRY II. AND CUNIGUNDE BUILD CHURCHES. 
(From an Illuminated MS. in Bamberg.) 

of Swabia, to fly to his aid, and they hastily came 
into the city with their men before the barbarians 
appeared. There was a moat round the walls and 
the river Lech had been made to send a stream into 
it. This puzzled the Hungarians, and they stood 



* The family of the Count of Kyburg became extinct in 1264, <™d 
their possessions passed first into the hands of the counts of Ilaps- 
burg and then to the House of Austria, one of the present titles of 
the Austrian emperor being Count of Kvburg. 




OTTO II. AND HIS SPOUSE BLESSED BY CHRIST. 
(From an Ivory Carving in the Hotel Cluny.) 



87 



^3 THE HUNGARIANS BURST IX AGAIN. 

looking at the water and the walls beyond. Then 
their chiefs whirled their long whips and slashed at 
their men to drive them into the ditch, and force 
them through. A gigantic Hungarian stood on the 
bank blowing a horn. Then, all at once, a gate was 
opened in the walls, a bridge was dropped, and out 
rushed the weavers of Augsburg, armed with pikes, 
fell on the enemy, surrounded and killed their king, 
and went back in triumph, carrying the shield of the 
king with them. Ever after, to this day, the shield 
has been preserved by the guild of the weavers. 
The Hungarians were detained outside Augsburg, 
unable to take it, and unwilling to leave it, till Otto, 
the emperor, the son of Henry, had collected an 
army and come swiftly upon them in the rear. 
Then a great battle was fought, on the loth of Au- 
gust, 955. The sun was blazing, and very hot. The 
great bare plain of rolled white limestones was glar- 
ing. The fight was a desperate one. Those in the 
city sallied out and helped the emperor. For some 
time the fate of the day was uncertain. Indeed, the 
German troops were wavering, when the day was 
turned by the heroism of the gallant Conrad of 
Franconia, the brother-in-law of the emperor. But 
he who saved the fortunes of the day was himself 
slain. Unable to bear the heat of the sun, which 
made his helmet burn his head, he took it off for a 
moment, and at that instant an arrow pierced his 
neck. A hundred thousand Hungarians fell ; others 
plunged, mad with fear, into the river, to escape 
the pursuit of the Germans, and the stream swept 
them away and drowned them, and along its course 







HENRY II. RECEIVES FROM GOD THE CROWN, HOLY LANCE, AND IMPERIAL 

SWORD. 
(From Henry's Missal.) 

89 



qo THE HI T NGARIAA S />' I T RST IN A GA1X. 

for many miles, among the willows and rushes and 
rolled stones, dead Hungarians were washed up in 
great numbers. Those who managed to get over 
the river were hunted in the bushes with pitch-forks 
and flails, and killed by the peasants without mercy 
like wolves. Never again did the Hungarians ven- 
ture an invasion of German}-. 

Otto I., called the Great, was the son of Henry 
the Fowler. He succeeded him in 936. He was a 
very fine man. Wittekind, an historian of the 
times, says: " His demeanor was full of majesty. 
His white hair waved over his shoulders. His eyes 
were bright and sparkling. His beard was of ex- 
traordinary length." 

He was crowned at Aix, with great splendour, in 
the grand circular church Charlemagne had built. 
The gigantic crown of Charles the Great, the scep- 
tre, the sword, the gold-embroidered mantle, and the 
sacred lance were used. This lance was supposed 
to have been that employed by the centurion to 
pierce the side of our Lord ; and it was one of the 
things always put into the hands of the king when 
he was crowned. It is now at Vienna, in the treas- 
ury of the Emperor of Austria. Otto was seated 
on the throne of Charles the Great, which was cov- 
ered with plates of gold. He was anointed by the 
Archbishop of Mainz, and the great dukes and 
princes stood about him, invested with honorary offi- 
ces in the palace. The Duke of Lotharingia was his 
chamberlain, the Duke of Franconia his carver, the 
Duke of Swabia his cup-bearer, the Duke of Bava- 
ria his marshall, or master of the stables. Edith, 




OTTO III. AND REPRESENTATIVES OF NOBLES AND CLERGY, 
(From an Illustrated Codex Title-Page.) 



91 



02 THE HUNGARIANS BURST IN AGAIN. 

the daughter of Edmund, King of England, his wife, 
was crowned with him. When the dukes went 
home from the coronation they were pleased with 
the state, and thought to copy it, so they appointed 
counts under them to be butlers, and servers, and 
chamberlains, and marshals to them. Then those 
of the bishops who were princes did the same, and 
made these offices hereditary in certain noble fami- 
lies on their lands. Our word constable means 
count of the stables, and a sheriff is a count of a 
shire (shire-graf). 

If there were some pomp and state observed by 
Otto I. there was more introduced into the court 
by his son, Otto II., who married Theophania, a 
Greek princess, accustomed to the elaborate cere- 
monial of the court at Constantinople. Never had 
the Germans seen any one so lovely as this beauti- 
ful princess. She appeared among them as a 
being from another world. When she arrived, we 
are told that the trappings of her horse were en- 
riched with feathers and gold, her Greek dress was 
encrusted with jewels and embroidered over with 
pearls, and her hair was confined in a golden net. 
Yet all this splendor was outshone by the beauty of 
her features and the brilliancy of her eyes. She 
did, however, something better than introduce mere 
ceremonial. She brought in a love of letters, and 
she polished and refined the somewhat rough and 
boorish manners of the court. Otto I. was crowned 
King of the Lombards at Milan, and emperor at 
Rome. 



THE SAXON DYNASTY ENDS. 



93 



Otto II., and his son, Otto III., died after short 
reigns, and with Henry II., called "the Saint," a 
great-grandson of Henry I., the Saxon dynasty 
came to an end. 




XVI. 

SOME TRIALS OF A KING. 
(1053-1106.) 

The first king of the race of the Salic Franks 
was Conrad II. He and his son, Henry III., were 
good sovereigns, holding the reins of government 
with a firm hand. Unhappily for Germany, the lat- 
ter died in the vigor of manhood, and his son Hen "y 
was proclaimed king, at the age of six. We have 
come now to one of the saddest periods in the his- 
tory of Germany. 

Agnes, the empress mother, a good woman, was 
left by Henry guardian of his infant son, and regent 
during his childhood. She had not sufficient 
strength of character for what was required of her. 
She sought to rule the turbulent spirits of the age 
by gentleness and persuasion. 

Charles the Great had made some of the arch- 
bishops and bishops secular princes, that is, he had 
given them dominions over which they might reign 
like sovereigns, and he did this in the hope that 
they would stand by the throne against the violent 
and ambitious dukes. But his scheme answered 
badly. The archbishops of Cologne and Mainz 
were sovereigns, raising armies, making laws, im- 

94 






A PLOT AGAINST A KING. g$ 

posing taxes, exercising the power of life and 
death. Consequently, their minds were turned as 
much, if not more, to the advancement of their 
power as princes than to their duties as bishops. 
Indeed, it came to this, that they kept bishops under 
them, like curates, to do all their sacred functions, 
and devoted themselves to their secular duties as 
sovereigns. Moreover, because these great bishop- 
rics and archbishoprics were principalities, the great 
nobles coveted them for their sons, and got the 
kings to give them to their sons when they got 
ordained, just for the sake of taking them, without 
the slightest regard for their fitness for a sacred 
office. 

Now at this time the Archbishop of Cologne was 
a man called Anno. He was not a great nobleman. 
Henry III. had elevated him to the archbishopric 
in the hope of attaching him to himself and his 
house, but by birth he was a member of a small 
and needy family of gentlemen. When he became 
archbishop he was ravenous for power and wealth 
to bestow on his relations He was not a bad man, 
but he was a greedy man, greedy of power. He 
and the Archbishop of Mainz thought that if they 
could only get hold of the young king they would 
be able to squeeze what they liked out of him. So 
they made a plan to seize him. 

One Whitsuntide the Empress Agnes was spend- 
ing the pleasant spring weather on the island of 
Kaiserswerth in the Rhine. The trees were in their 
first leaf, and the buds were bursting. The two 
archbishops came to pay her a visit in a beautiful 



9 6 



SOME TRIALS OF A KING, 



new ship with painted and gilded bows. After they 
had dined they asked Henry if he would like to see 
the boat. He was only too delighted, so they took 
him to where it was moored, got him on board, and 
then, at a signal, the rope was cut, the sail was 
spread, the rowers dipped their oars, and away 
darted the ship into the middle of the stream. Henry 
thought that he was going to be killed or put in 
prison, and jumped overboard, but the Margrave 
of Meissen, who was in the plot, jumped after him, 
and brought him back into the vessel. In the 
mean time, the empress ran along the beach wring- 
ing her hands and crying, and others shouted and 
stormed at the treachery ; but the archbishops 
did not care ; they pushed up the river to Cologne, 
and arranged that the king should spend half his 
time with Archbishop Anno and half with Arch- 
bishop Siegfried, of Mainz. 

The news spread like wildfire, and the whole of 
Germany was in agitation. The Archbishop of 
Cologne, who had charge of the king first, was 
obliged to bribe the great vassals right and left to 
stop their mouths, and this he did by making the 
young king give them estates which belonged to 
the crown, and to the bishops who rebuked him he 
gave other bishoprics, to keep them quiet. 

Anno was a hard, stern man, and he kept Henry 
under very severe discipline. He gave him no 
amusements, held him hard at lessons, and separated 
him from young lads of his own age who might have 
made agreeable companions. He was always cross, 
and scolding, and Henry acquired a perfect hatred 



THE KING'S GUARDIANS. 



97 



of him. It was much the same with the Arch- 
bishop of Mainz. So the archbishop saw that he 
must put him with some one else, who 



was a 




^■s^S^^ay^ 



IMPERIAL HOUSE AT GOSLAR. (HENRY III.) 

friend, and would not act against him He 
therefore handed him over to Adalbert, Arch- 
bishop of Bremen. Now Adalbert was just the 
opposite sort of man to Anno. He was very fond of 
splendour, kept a grand court, ate and drank of the 
best, and was a thriftless, good-natured person. He 



q3 some trials of a a/xg. 

allowed Henry to do what he liked, spoiled him, 
let him make friends with worthless young noble- 
men, and throw about his money on any folly, as 
he pleased. 

The consequence of this sort of bringing up — at 
one time treated with harshness, at another with in- 
dulgence ; at one time refused rational pleasures, 
then allowed every indulgence unreproved — was 
that Henry's natural good disposition was com- 
pletely spoiled. 

After he had been some years with Adalbert, 
Anno wanted to get him back again, as Adalbert 
was wasting, or allowing Henry to waste, all the rev- 
enues of the crown. So another plot was formed. 
A diet — that is, a parliament — met at Tribur, 
which was attended by the king, and the arch- 
bishop, and many of the great nobles. All at once 
the young king was surrounded, and ordered to 
dismiss Adalbert from his court or abdicate the 
throne. Henry was obliged to throw Archbishop 
Adalbert over. Anno was guilty now of a very 
stupid act. He forced the young king, when he 
was only sixteen, to marry Bertha, daughter of the 
Margrave of Susa, a plain-faced, uninteresting girl, 
whom he could not abide, and whom he treated in 
consequence with positive unkindness at one time 
and neglect at another. Moreover, it increased his 
detestation of Anno, so that Anno behaved in this 
matter imprudently for his own interests. On the 
king the effect was very bad, because, as he disliked 
his wife, he became more disorderly and subject to 
the leading of all sorts of persons, whereas, if he 



AN APPEAL TO THE POPE. 



99 



had had a wife whom he loved and who was sensi- 
ble, he might gradually have been brought into 
better ways. But this was not all ; his sons grew 
up to see their father rude and unkind to their 
mother, and they lost 
all respect and regard 
for him. What that 
led to, you shall hear 
presently. 

No sooner was Henry 
his own master than he 
turned on those who 
had leagued with Anno 
against him — and these 
were the Saxon nobles 
— and treated them 
with contumely and 
severity ; indeed, he 
drove them into insur- 
rection. At last, un- 
able to endure his treat- 
ment, they appealed to 
the Pope. The Pope 
at this time was Greg- 
ory VII., a carpenter's 
son, whose head had 
been turned by his ele- 
vation to the Papacy, and who was puffed up with 
pride and love of power. He summoned the 
emperor to come to Rome, that he might decide 
between him and the Saxon princes. Henry laughed 
at the summons. Charles the Great had gone to 




HENRY IV. WITH SCEPTRE AND 

IMPERIAL GLOBE. 
(From an Illuminated Manuscript.) 



IOO 



SOME TRIALS OF A KING. 



Rome and called the Pope before him, and tried the 
case between him and those who had thrown him 
off his horse and tried to cut out his tongue ; and 
should he, the emperor, go and be tried by the 
Bishop of Rome ? He was then aged twenty-five, 
full of pride and in the plenitude of his power. 
He at once called some of the bishops together at 
Worms, and, urged by him, they deposed the Pope. 
This was a very thoughtless act on his part. He 
had to do with a much cleverer man than himself, 
and Gregory was delighted that he had thus given 
him a handle wherewith to humble him. Gregory 
at once pronounced excommunication against him, 
that is, he cut him off from the Church as com- 
pletely as if he were a heathen, and bade all Chris- 
tians hold aloof from him. He released all his sub- 
jects from their allegiance and declared him un- 
worthy to reign. Henry only laughed at the sen- 
tence when he heard it, but the laugh died away 
on his lips when he saw the effect it wrought. He 
had behaved so badly in Germany, had been so 
despotic, had offended so many — the powerful 
princes by his insolence, the good people by his 
disorderly life, and the general mass of the peo- 
ple by his neglect of good government — that they 
were glad to seize the excuse to fall away from 
him and give themselves a better emperor. 

Henry found himself deserted by even' one but 
his despised wife Bertha. The great vassals pro- 
ceeded to eleet Rudolf, Duke of Swabia, who had 
married his sister, to be emperor in his place. 

There was nothing for it, Henry thought, but for 




RUDOLPH OF SWARIA. 

(From his Tomb.) 



101 



I02 SOME TRIALS OF A KING. 

him to hasten to Italy and make his peace with the 
Pope. The winter of this year (1076) happened to 
be colder than any within the memory of man, 
and the Rhine remained frozen over from the 
middle of November to April, 1077. It was in 
this dreadful weather, about Christmas time, that 
Henry set off secretly, attended only by Bertha, 
his infant son, and a solitary knight. They crossed 
the Alps to the Lake of Geneva ; then they trav- 
elled over the St. Bernard pass, and Bertha, whom 
neither danger nor distress could separate from 
her husband, was drawn over the ice seated on an 
ox-hide, whilst the emperor scrambled among the 
rocks like a chamois-hunter. 

The Pope was then in the castle of Canossa, sit- 
uated on a rocky spur of the Apennines. With the 
insolence of a beggar exalted to unlimited power, 
Gregory treated the humbled emperor ignomin- 
iously. He refused to see and absolve him till he 
had undergone a degrading penance. On a dreary 
winter morning, with the ground deep in snow, the 
king, the heir of a line of emperors, was forced to 
lay aside every mark of royalty, was clad in the 
thin white linen dress of the penitent, and there, 
fasting, he awaited the pleasure of the Pope in the 
castle yard. But the gates did not unclose. A 
second day he stood, cold, hungry, and mocked by 
vain hope. At the close only of the third day did 
Gregory receive and pardon him. 

But Gregory had now, for his part, clone more 
than was judicious from his own point of view. His 
severity, and the humiliation of their king, roused the 



A HAND CUT OFF. 



103 



indignation and excited the disgust of the Germans 
and the Italians alike, and Henry found himself 
now surrounded by those who ^ 
had forsaken him. At the head 
of an army he marched against 
his brother-in-law, Rudolf of 
Swabia, who had assumed the 
crown, and defeated him in a 
battle near Gera, on the Elster. 
When the duke was dying, some 
one showed him his right hand, 
which had been cut off by an 
axe. " It is well," said the 
duke, " I raised this right hand to 
heaven in token of fidelity when 
I took the oath of allegiance to 
Henry. God has punished me 
aright by suffering it to be smit- 
ten off." 

Now it was Henry's turn to 
chastise the Pope. He crossed 
the Alps at the head of an army, 
took Rome, deposed Gregory, 
who fled to Salerno, and ap- 
pointed another Pope in his 
room, who crowned him in S. 
Peter's Church, Emperor of the 
Romans, A.D. 1084. 

Henry had now crushed his 
worst enemies, but the remain- (From an illuminated us.) 
der of his life was not to be spent in quiet. He 
had sown the wind and must reap the whirlwind. 




CONRAD, SON OF 
HENRY IV. 



1Q , SOME TRIALS OE A KING. 

His reign was very long, fifty years ; his old age was 
embittered by the revolt of his own sons. Conrad 
rebelled against his father in Italy, and Henry in 
Germany. Conrad died before his father. 

It was in 1 104 that Henry, the best loved son of the 
old emperor, raised his hand against his father. The 
touching appeals of the emperor to his son having 
been disregarded, Henry IV. put himself at the head 
of his troops and marched against him, but discover- 
ing that he was betrayed by his followers, he fled in 
sorrow of heart. Then occurred an incident which 
has been versified by a German poetess. If ever you 
go up the Rhine, look at the ruins of the Castle of 
Hammerstein. In it, at the time of which I am 
telling you, lived a knight who had been true to 
Henry in all his troubles, but he was now very 
old and unable to take the field for his king. The 
knight was bitterly dissatisfied because he had no 
son, only two gentle daughters, and he could not 
abide to see them, as they were useless, he thought, 
whereas a son could have borne arms for the king. 
One night there came a knock at the castle door, 
and the old man was told that a stranger begged 
admission. He was shown in, and, lo ! the knight 
saw his white-haired sovereign, come to him for 
refuge from his enemies, begging for shelter, if only 
for a night. 

"Ah! well is thee!" said Henry, looking at the 
two daughters of his host, " well is thee that thou 
hast gentle daughters to cling to thee, to love thee, 
and cherish thee in thy old age. I— I have had two 
sons, and both have risen against me." 



A BROKEN HEAR T. \ 5 

The emperor was taken by his unnatural son and 
shut up in the castle of Bingen, and was required by 
delegates from him to surrender the crown jewels. 
The aged emperor placed the crown of Charlemagne 
on his head, threw the imperial mantle over his 
shoulders, and holding the sceptre and orb, appeared 
before the messengers, and defied them to touch the 
ornaments worn by the ruler of the world. But to 
these men nothing was sacred : the crown and mantle 
of Charlemagne were plucked off him, and carried to 
Mainz to adorn his rebellious son. 

The fallen emperor was given into the hands of 
Gebhard, Bishop of Spires, who took a fiendish pleas- 
ure in humbling and tormenting him. He kept him 
without sufficient food, so that the old emperor was 
obliged to sell his boots in order to procure bread. 
He was forbidden the use of a bath, and of a bar- 
ber to shave him. At length he found ways of es- 
caping to Liege, where the bishop received him and 
treated him with great kindness till he died of a 
broken heart. From his death-bed Henry sent his 
ring and sword to his son in token of pardon for his 
rebellion. 




XVII. 



A BAD SON MAKES A STRONG KING. 



(1099-1125.) 

HENRY V. married Matilda, daughter of Henry I. 
of England, but he never had any children. He 
saw clearly enough that there was no hope for Ger- 
many to become united and great so long as the 
dukes, and margraves, and archbishops were so 
powerful and independent, and his father's long 
minority, and the incessant contests that followed, 
had made them so strong that the emperor could 
do little unsupported by them. Accordingly, he 
directed his efforts to reducing their power. But 
now again appeared one of the fatal consequences 
of the gift of the imperial crown to Charlemagne by 
Leo II. The popes were afraid of the emperors. 
The kings of Germany, who were also kings of Italy 
and Lombardy, were tremendously strong, and the 
popes were afraid of being completely at their mercy 
and being forced to do just what the emperors 
ordered. So it became a part of the settled policy 
of the popes to stir up strife at home to keep the 
empire weak and occupy the emperor in Germany. 
In order to help the vassals to weaken Henry, the 
Pope excommunicated him, and his reign was spent 

106 



HENEICVS QUINT. 




HENRY V. RECEIVES INSIGNIA FROM POPE 
(From the Ekkehard Manuscript.) 



PASCHAL 



107 



io8 



A HAD SOX MAKES A STRONG KING. 



in fighting first one vassal, then another. He was 
sometimes victorious, sometimes defeated, and a 
fugitive, just as he had made his father a fugitive. 
In the end he died a disappointed man, having 
utterly failed to do what he designed. 




A TEMPLAR. 



XVIII. 

HOW THEY FOUGHT THE SARACENS. 
(1096-1291.) 

It was customary in the Middle Ages for pious 
men to visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem, to see and 
pray at the spots where Christ was born, and died, 
and rose again. The Arabs, who ruled in Syria 
after the Romans had lost that province, did not dis- 
turb the pilgrims. But when the Seldjucs, a savage 
Turkish race, conquered Palestine, the Christians 
were oppressed and persecuted ; pilgrims were mal- 
treated, churches desecrated, and Simon, Patriarch 
of Jerusalem, was thrown down at the foot of the 
altar, and his hair plucked out. 

A pious hermit, Peter of Amiens, saw these suffer- 
ings, when on a visit to Jerusalem; he returned to 
Europe with an appeal from the patriarch to Pope 
Urban II. The Pope sent Peter into France and 
through Italy to stir up the people to fight for the 
recovery of the Holy City. In 1095 the Pope held 
a council at Clermont, in France, and besought the 
faithful to take up arms to wrest Jerusalem from the 
hands of the unbelievers. " It is the will of God ! " 
shouted the crowd, and they hasted to fasten little 
crosses of red cloth to their shoulders, in token that 

109 



HO HOW THE Y FO UGHT 7 'HE SA A'. / CAWS. 

they enlisted in the enterprise. Thence these ex- 
peditions took the name of crusades. The first 
army started in August, 1096, under the generalship 
of Godfrey de Bouillon. When the host crossed 
over from Constantinople into Asia Minor it num- 
bered 300,000 fighting men. On its way through 
Asia Minor and Syria, privations, incessant fighting, 
and disease had thinned it so that when it arrived 
in the Promised Land only a tenth remained. This 
remnant, however, inspired to enthusiasm by the 
sight of Jerusalem, stormed and took the city. 
Godfrey de Bouillon was the first to leap from the 
walls into the town. The gates were thrown open 
and the Crusaders poured in, to massacre all they 
encountered. Godfrey de Bouillon was proclaimed 
King of Jerusalem ; but he refused to wear a crown, 
where the Saviour had been invested with a wreath 
of thorns, and for his title chose " Guardian of the 
Holy Grave." Next year, 1 100, Godfrey died, and 
his brother Baldwin took the government and the 
title of king. 

The new Christian realm was not, however, se- 
cured by the capture of Jerusalem. The city was 
repeatedly threatened ; and for its protection six 
great armies went out of Europe. Jerusalem fell 
back into the hands of the Saracens. With 
Ptolemais, or Acre, the Christians lost, in 1291, the 
last of their possessions in Asia. Thenceforth, the 
Holy Land remained in the power of the Turks. 
The conflict for the Holy Sepulchre lasted two hun- 
dred years, and cost Europe six millions of her best 
fighting men. Nevertheless, the Crusades were an 



A GREA T A WAKENING. 



Ill 



advantage to the West. Minds were roused by 
contact with strange sights, interest quickened in 
geography, history, and natural science. A multi- 
tude of hitherto unknown products, as silk, sugar, 
spices, dyes, found their way into the West. More- 
over, some of the most turbulent spirits went out 




AN ASTROLOGER. ( HOLBEIN.) 



of Europe, as by a voluntary banishment, to exhaust 
their powers of doing mischief in the East, and the 
nobility were so weakened that the cities were 
able to develop commerce and manufacture unim- 
peded. 

During the period of the Crusades, chivalry be- 
came more and more a flourishing and organized 
institution. Knighthood was not inherited like 



1 12 



HOW THEY FOUGHT THE SAKACEXS. 



titles ; it was granted to a man for his worth, after 
hard trials and proof that the aspirant deserved the 
honour. 




^§£**«^ 



XIX. 



HOW A NEW DYNASTY WAS BEGUN. 




(1138-1152.) 

If you look on the map you will 
see that at Stuttgart the River Neckar 
comes from the east and turns abruptly 
north, where it receives another river 
from the east called the Rems. Now 
between the Rems and the Neckar 
rises a tableland of dry limestone, and 
here and there this plateau is capped 
with the queerest hills, for all the world like thim- 
bles put down by giants on the table. These con- 
ical hills with stumpy tops are not of limestone ; 
they are volcanic, and have been driven up through 
the lime by the fires in the heart of the earth. One 
of these is called Hohenstaufen. You will remem 
ber that when Henry IV. went over the Alps in win- 
ter to Pope Gregory VII. one faithful knight attended 
him. This knight is said to have been Frederick of 
Biiren. In consideration of his fidelity, immediately 
that affairs seemed prosperous, Henry created him 
Duke of Swabia, and gave him Agnes, his daughter, 
to wife. He thereupon built himself a castle on the 

"3 






U4 



J WW A NEW DYNASTY WAS BEGUN. 






hill I mention, and thenceforth called himself "Of 
Hohen stau fen." 

There had been Frank and Saxon emperors , now 
there was to be a Swabian dynasty. 




A HOHENSTAUFEN KNIGHT. 

(From an Almanac of the 12th Century.) 

In 1138, at Mainz, Conrad, the son of this Fred- 
crick of Hohenstaufen, was elected to be king of the 

Germans. 

Besides Hohenstaufen, the family had a town, 
Waiblingen on the Rems, and as people then took 
their names from their estates, they were called 
variously "of Bttren," "of Hohenstaufen," and 
"of Waiblingen"; but as Waiblingen was a town, 




CONRAD HUNTING WITH FALCONS. 
(From a Minnesinger Manuscript of the 14th Century.) 



115 



! x 6 HOW A NEW DYNASTY WAS BEGUN. 






whereas the other places were only castles, they 
were commonly called the Waiblingers. 

There was a strong opposition party in Germany 
to the Swabians, and that was headed by the Duke 
of Bavaria. The Bavarian dukes were called 
Welfs, from an ancestor of the name. This was a 
very powerful family, which held both the duchies 
of Bavaria and Saxony. As the policy of the Pope 
was to weaken the power of the emperor, he sup- 
ported the Welfs. The Lombard cities also took 
the same side. In Italian mouths (unable to pro- 
nounce the W) Welf became Guelf, and Waiblinger 
became Ghibelline, and in Italy the Papal faction 
was called Guelf and the emperor's party was 
called Ghibelline. 

The Waiblinger family has long ago died out, but 
the Welf remains. It is represented by Queen Vic- 
toria of England and the Duke of Brunswick. It 
is one of the most ancient reigning houses that ex- 
ists. It dates back in unbroken pedigree to that 
old Welf, Count of Swabia and Bavaria, the father 
of lutta, the wife of Louis the Pious, who sulked 
and hid himself in the Black Forest because his 
took a feudal holding under the emperor. This 
Welf died about the year 824. 

Conrad, the Waiblinger, did not succeed to the 
throne immediately after the death of Henry V. 
Lothair. the Saxon, was the next emperor, but Con- 
rad came to the throne on his death, and at once 
the contest with the Welfs broke out. During this 
contest the little town of Weinsberg held out gal- 
lantly for the Welfs against the emperor. Exa>- 




HENRY THE LION, AND SPOUSE. 
(From their Tomb.j 



117 



u8 



HOW A NEW DYNASTY WAS BEGUN. 



perated at the persistency of their defence Conrad 
threatened to kill all the men when he took the 
place. When at length Weinsberg was forced to 
yield, the provisions therein being exhausted, the 
emperor consented that all the women should be 
allowed, unmolested, to leave the place and to carry 
with them their choicest valuables. Then the gate 
was thrown open, and out through it, and down the 
hill to where Conrad sat before his tent, came the 
Countess Ida,* carrying her husband, Welf, on her 
back, followed by all the women of Weinsberg, 
carrying their husbands, and fathers, and brothers, 
and lovers on their backs. 

Some of the army of Conrad were angry, and 
wanted to stop this strange procession and kill the 
men, but the emperor was touched at the devotion 
of the women, and he answered, " Not so ; I gave 
my word, and an emperor's word must never be 
broken." 

The Welf whom the Countess Ida carried was 
Welf VI., of Bavaria, uncle of the Duke Henry, sur- 
named the Lion, who was then only twelve years 
old. After that, Welf VI. was made Duke of Spo- 
leto and Margrave of Tuscany. 

Conrad was forced by public opinion, against his 
good sense, to head a crusade. He started at the 
head of a large army in 1 147 for the Holy Land, but 
his whole march was one of disaster and loss. As 
the Crusaders were crossing a river near Constanti- 
nople, agents of the Greek emperor tried to count 



* She was a daughter ol" the Count Palatine of the Rhine. 



THE TWO-HEADED EAGLE. 



119 



them, but after reckoning 900,000, desisted. Not 
one tithe of this vast horde ever reached their des- 
tination. They died either of disease, starvation, or 
by the swords of the Moslems, in Asia Minor. 
Conrad returned home, in confusion and despon- 
dency, to find that Welf and Henry the Lion were 
stirring up a new revolt against him in Germany 
and Lombardy. 

When he was at Constantinople he saw that the 
Byzantine emperor bore on his imperial standards 
a two-headed eagle, to represent the double empire, 
East and West, which had for a while been united 
under Constantine and his successors. Conrad was 
struck with the idea, and when he came home he 
assumed the double-headed eagle as the arms of 
his empires, and you will see it on the coins of 
both the Emperor of Germany and the Emperor of 
Austria at the present day. There is a story told, 
— but it is, of course, only a story, — that one of the 
grand dukes of Austria was out shooting in the 
Tyrol some years ago, and the huntsman with him 
brought down an eagle. When the grand duke 
picked it up, " Why," said he, " what a queer 
eagle ! It has only one head ! " He had seen the 
imperial eagle all his life on banners and coins, and 
thought all eagles had two necks and heads. 




XX. 



FREDERICK OF THE RED HEARD. 



(1152-1190.) 

Frederick L, or Barbarossa, was certainly the 
greatest and strongest of the German emperors after 
Charles the Great. He pacified the Welfs by giv- 
ing Henry the Lion back the Duchies of Bavaria 
and Saxony, which Conrad had taken from him. 
But the great Welf duke was not grateful for this 
act ; he repaid it with treachery. 

If Frederick had only contented himself with the 
government and discipline of Germany all would 
have been well, but he could not forget that he was 
King of all Italy and Emperor of Rome, so that he 
continually crossed the Alps with armies to quell 
the revolts that broke out there ; and when he was 
in Italy disturbances burst forth in German}-, which 
forced him back to subdue them. Duke Welf VI., 
the uncle of Henry the Lion, in his old age became 
blind. He lived at Memingen, on the Lech, and 
was very extravagant. He invited all the noblemen 
of Swabia and Bavaria to come and eat, and drink, 
and dance for weeks at a time at Memingen. He 
got deep in debt, and the emperor helped him ; but 
his nephew, Henry the Lion, never sent him any 

1 20 




STATUE OF FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 
(In the Cloister of St. Reno, Reichenhall.) 



«.^\V 



I2T 



122 FREDERICK OF THE RED BEARD. 

money. When he died he left all his estates to 
the emperor. This made Henry the Lion furious, 
and he resolved to be revenged. Frederick called 
on Henry as his vassal to assist him in a campaign 
in Italy. Henry obeyed. At the Lake of Como 
Frederick fell ill. Then Henry went to him and 
told him he would desert him unless the emperor 
yielded to his extortionate demands. The Lombards 
in insurrection were drawing near. The time was 
critical. Frederick entreated the duke to be true to 
him and his country. He even went down on his 
knees to entreat him, but Henry turned scornfully 
away. Then the Empress Beatrice raised her hus- 
band, saying, " God will help you, and remember 
the Welf's insolence some future day.'.' A battle 
was fought with the Lombards, who far outnum- 
bered the faithful Germans. Henry withdrew with 
his men, and left Frederick's army to be almost cut 
to pieces. The emperor escaped with difficulty 
and returned to Germany, where the indignation 
against the treachery of Henry was so general that 
Frederick put him under the ban of the Empire — 
that is, outlawed him — and gave the duchy of Ba- 
varia to his faithful friend, Count Otto of YVittles- 
bach, who is the ancestor of the present King of 
Bavaria. The duchy of Saxony was divided, and 
to the Welfs nothing was left, after Henry the Lion 
had come on his knees and implored pardon of the 
emperor, but the territory of Brunswick, and it is 
thus, through the House of Brunswick, that the 
Queen of England descends from the ancient Welfs. 




BARBAROSSA'S PALACE AT GELNHAUSEN. (RECONSTRUCTED 



PLAN.) 



123 



I2 4 



FREDERICK OF THE RED BEARD. 



So that act of treachery at Como was the ruin of 
the greatness of the Welfs for many generations. 

In his old age Frederick made a crusade against 
Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, who had retaken Jerusa- 
lem. As he was crossing a river Seleph he was 
carried off his horse by the current and drowned. 
When the news of his death reached Germany no 
one would believe it. There sprang up a story 
among the people that the red-bearded king is not 
dead, but sleeps in the Kyffhauser Mountain, sitting 
at a stone table, and that his beard has grown 
through the table. They say also, that in the hour 
of peril to Germany Frederick will start to life and 
come forth to be the deliverer of Fatherland. 






/ JsS&BWUP^^v ,<»*> 


w~^ ^iW\^A 


&k V"v\ \nK 




^S_^o 


(@m^> '1 /IS 






S/ ■ ^ 


i^o 


K^^^^^i^^i 






r>^» 1^3 



XXI. 

A CRUEL KING PUT UNDER THE BAN. 

(i 196-1250.) 

FREDERICK the Red-Bearded was followed by 
his son, Henry VI., a cruel, hard man, who succeeded 
in making the rule of the Hohenstaufen more hated 
in Italy than that of the earlier emperors. At 
Christmas, 1 194, the season of peace and good-will, 
this cruel tyrant deluged Palermo with blood, on the 
pretence that he had discovered a plot against his 
supremacy. Bishops, nobles, members of the royal 
family of Sicily, none were spared ; some were 
hanged, some burned, others buried alive. * Rich- 
ard, Count of Palermo, was tied to a horse's tail, 
dragged through the streets of Capua, then hung up 
by one leg to a gallows, till the emperor's fool, 
after two days of misery, put an end to his pain by 
tying a great stone to his neck. In the midst of 
these scenes of horror the Empress Constantia be- 
came mother of a son, Frederick Roger, afterwards 
the Emperor Frederick II., and the last emperor of 
the race. It would almost seem as if the judgment 
of Heaven, outraged by the crime of the father, was 

* A Count Jordan was placed on a red-hot iron throne, and a red- 
hot crown was nailed to his head. 

125 




BARBAROSSA'S PALACE AT KAISERSWERTK. (RECONSTRUCTED PLAN. 

126 



A WEDDING AND A PLAGUE. 



\2J 



to follow the son. Two years later Henry was dead, 
and the little child succeeded to the crown, under 
the regency of his gentle and pious mother. It 
would have been well for him had she lived, but she 
died shortly after her husband, when Frederick was 
scarce four years old. The poor little king was 
brought up among rough and ambitious nobles, in 




SEAL OF OTTO IV. 



the midst of intrigue, violence, and conflict, at Pa- 
lermo. He grew to be a very handsome, graceful 
youth, with a face full of intelligence, benevolence, 
and nobility. At the age of fifteen he was mar- 
ried to Constantia, daughter of Peter, King of Ar- 
ragon. The wedding was performed with great 
magnificence, but in the midst of the festivities, 
whilst bells were ringing, and soldiers parading, the 
plague broke out. People fell dead in the streets. 
Alphonso, the bride's brother, rose from table, 




MONUMENTAL LION TO HENRY THE LION (IN BRUNSWICK). 



128 



DISTURBANCES. 



129 



staggered from the hall, and died. Others of the 
banqueters fell ill also, and before many hours had 
elapsed were corpses. Frederick and his young 
bride were obliged to fly. 

During his minority there had been sad disturb- 
ance in Germany. Two opposition emperors had 
started up, Philip of Swabia and Otto IV., of Bruns- 
wick, the son of Henry the Lion, and for ten years 
they had devastated Germany by their rivalries. At 
last, in 12 1 5, Frederick got 
the upper hand, and was 
crowned at Aix. This grand- 
son of the Red Beard was a 
noble scion of his race, full 
of courage, chivalry, and 
strength of purpose ; but, al- 
though so great a man, he 
never did great things, be- 
cause his energies were ex- 
hausted in incessant contest 
with the popes. It was the old story over again, 
You must consider that in France, in England, in 
Germany, the crown was not all-powerful. The 
nobles were very strong and much inclined to have 
their own way, and their own way meant fighting each 
other, and disturbing the whole land. In France, 
the kings, by a compromise w r ith the people, got the 
upper hand and crushed the nobility. In England, 
the nobles, by a compromise with the people, formed 
a check on the power of the crown, and founded a 
constitutional monarchy ; but in Germany the great- 
est emperors squandered their talents and exhausted 




SILVER PIECE OF OTTO IV. 




13° 



HENRY VI. 

(From a Minnesinger MS. of the 14th Century.) 



THE IMPERIAL IDEA. • j -> , 

the best strength of their country in pursuit of a 
fancy, and never learned by the experience of their 
predecessors to desist from the dangerous pursuit. 
Instead of turning their attention to the develop- 
ment of their country, to the curtailment of the 
powers of the nobility, to the establishment of their 
throne on enduring foundations, they were bewitched 
with the dream of a Roman-imperial world-mon- 
archy, which was impossible to be realized when 
every nation was asserting more and more its charac- 
teristic peculiarities, and arriving at consciousness of 
national and independent life. The emperors were 
always divided between distinct callings, as kings 
of Germany and emperors of Rome. The Italians 
hated them, the popes undermined their powers and 
involved them in countless difficulties at home and 
in Italy, so that they could not establish their au- 
thority as emperors, and neglected to make good, or 
were impeded in attempting to make good, their 
position as kings in Germany. The bat in the fable 
was rejected by the birds because he was a beast, 
and by the beasts because he had wings as a bird. 

This, that I have insisted on so strongly, must be 
borne well in mind by all who would master German 
history. The imperial eagle has two heads, turned 
in opposite directions, and the heads of the emperors 
shared this division and opposition. 

Frederick was now King of Lombardy, of Naples 
and Sicily, as well as King of Germany. The popes 
were very uneasy, feeling as though placed in a vice, 
and they naturally sought to diminish the power of 
Frederick. One of the simplest expedients was to 



132 



A CRUEL KING PUT UXDER THE BAN. 



send him off crusading to the East, so they urged 
him to this, and got him to vow a crusade. Pope 
Gregory IX. had the satisfaction of seeing him start 
at the head of a great host, but fever broke out in 
it ; the pilgrims perished by thousands. Frederick 
himself fell ill, and his ship was obliged to put back 
to Italy, that he might recruit his health on the 
mainland. The Pope was furious in his disappoint- 
ment, and excommunicated the emperor. Freder- 
ick sent three bishops to the Pope to assure him of 
his illness. Gregory refused to receive them. That 
was in September, 1227. 

Next year, when Frederick was well, he started 
on his crusade. One would have supposed that this 
would have contented the Pope : but no ; he cared 
for the crusade only as a means to weaken the em- 
peror, and he picked a fresh excuse for continuing 
the excommunication of Frederick. He ordered the 
Templars and Hospitallers to hold aloof from him ; 
he forbade the paying of taxes to help him, and he 
did everything in his power to bring the crusade 
of Frederick to an ignominious break-down. Yet 
Frederick succeeded by this expedition in effecting 
more than any other that had had the advantage of 
the blessing of popes. By a treaty with the Sultan 
of Egypt he recovered all the holy places. He en- 
tered Jerusalem in triumph, took the crown of the 
Christian kings of Jerusalem from the altar of the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and placed it on his 
head. 

After his return, the strife with the Pope began 
again. The Lombard cities were in revolt. The 



POPE AGAINST EMPEROR. 



133 



Pope had raised an army of mercenaries against him, 
who bore as insignia St. Peter's keys, and were 
nicknamed accordingly the key-soldiers. 

The emperor was nearly always victorious, but 
a series of unhappy circumstances combined to 
embitter his life. His opponents in Germany had 
stirred up his son Henry to revolt against him. 
Frederick was forced to cross the Alps into Ger- 
many and quell the rebellion. Henry was deposed 




PEASANTS BUILDING A VILLAGE (13TH CENTURY). 
(Heidelberg Manuscript.) 

and condemned to seven years' imprisonment in 
Italy. He died in prison before his father. 

Pope Innocent IV., who succeeded Gregory IX., 
continued to resist the emperor, and for precisely 
the same reason. The claims of the German kings 
to be emperors did as much harm to the popes as 
to the kings themselves, for it diverted the attention 
of the popes from their spiritual cares to plotting 
how they might upset the emperors, or, at all events, 
curtail their authority. Innocent, afraid of the im- 



134 



A CRUEL KING RUT UNDER THE BAN. 



mense power of Frederick, fled to France, and excom- 
municated him again, and deposed him from all his 
offices. When Frederick heard this he laughed, and 
exclaimed, " Has the Pope deposed me ? Bring me 
my crowns that I may see of what I am deprived." 
Then seven crowns were brought him, the royal 
crown of Germany, the imperial diadem of Rome, 
the iron circlet of Lombardy, the crowns of 
Sicily, Burgundy, Sardinia, and Jerusalem. He put 
them on his head, one after the other, and said, " I 
have them still, and none shall rob me of them with- 
out hard battle." 

But the deposition and excommunication had its 
effect in Germany. It served as an excuse for the 
proud and ambitious to rise and set up an opposi- 
tion emperor. An old historian says of that time : 
" After the Emperor Frederick was put under the 
ban, the robbers rejoiced over their spoils. Then 
were the ploughshares beaten into swords, and the 
reaping hooks into lances. No one went anywhere 
without steel and stone, to set in blaze whatever he 
could fire." 

Italy also was in insurrection. The emperor's 
son Enzio, was captured by the Bolognese and im- 
prisoned. The old emperor, crushed by his trou- 
bles, died in the arms of his son Manfred, and was 
succeeded by his son Conrad, who reigned only 
four years, and was never crowned emperor. Con- 
rad left an only son, Conradin, not three years old, 
the one legitimate heir of the Red-beard and of 
Frederick II. 

As soon as Frederick was dead, the Pope gave 



A PRINCE IN A CASK. 



135 



away the kingdom of Naples to Charles, Count of 
Anjou.* He had no right whatever to do this, but 
he did it out of self-preservation, so as to have some 
one on one side of him to assist him against the 
Germans. Conradin, when aged sixteen, marched 
against the French holding Naples, to attempt to 
recover his kingdom, but was taken, and his head 
struck off, by order of the cruel Charles of Anjou. 

Enzio was still in pris- 
on in Bologna ; he was 
now the last of the Ho- 
henstaufen, and heir to 
all the seven crowns. 
He contrived to be hid- 
den in an empty wine 
cask, and thus to be car- 
ried out of the prison. 
But as he was being 
taken, one of his long 
golden locks fell out of 
the bung-hole, which 
had been left open that 
he might have air to 
breathe. This attract- 
ed the attention of the 
guards ; the cask was stopped, broken open. Enzio 
was enclosed in an iron cage, and there died in 1272, 
the last of the noble Hohenstaufen race, after a mis- 
erable confinement of twenty-three years. 




A BISHOP IN ROBES. 
(Codex of 12th Century.) 



* Brother of King Louis IX. of France. 





^^wSu^^^Xb^L^ 


/i Wif'~ - ^M 


HbQW 1 -f^ 




mx^mmg 



XXII. 



THE ROBBER KNIGHTS. 



If you have travelled in Germany you will have 
noticed the abundance of ruined castles scattered 
over the country ; not a rocky hill, not a spur of 
mountain, but is crowned by one, not always large, 
some consisting of little more than one towe'r and a 
few outer walls, others possessing several towers. 
Most of these castles belong to the period of which 
we shall have need to treat, a time when there was 
no strong emperor, when the firmament was with- 
out a sun, and every little star set up to be indepen- 
dent. 

When the Hohenstaufen race died out, the glory 
of the empire was gone from Germany. No Ger- 
man prince would take the crown ; all were afraid 
of it. Then the great bishops thought of electing 
a foreigner. Some chose Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 
brother of Henry III. of England, and son of King 
John ; others chose Alphonso, King of Castile, in 
Spain. Richard came to Germany very rarely; Al- 
phonso not at all. It was as though there were no 
king in the land. This was the saddest time that 
ever was in Germany. Every one did what he liked. 
The fist and the sword decided between right and 

136 




THE DRESS OF THE GERMAN LORDS, WORN BY CONRAD 
OF THURINGIA, A.D. 1241. 



13; 



138 



THE ROBBER KXIGIITS. 




wrong. The princes and the cities were in constant 
feud. The knights made themselves strong castles, 
and lived in them on plunder and murder. From 
their fortresses they swooped down on the mer- 
chants travelling from town to town and robbed 
them, or levied on them heavy tolls. They went 
plundering over the level land ; they robbed the far- 
mers of their cattle, devastated their fields, and 
burnt their houses. 

Moreover, the neighboring nobles and knights 
quarrelled with each other and fought, so that the 
country was one battle-field. How Germany could 
have got through this terrible time but for two 
things it is hard to say. In the first place, the 
towns had become very strong. They had taken 
advantage of the crusades, which had drawn away a 
number of the knights, to buy their lands, and to 
become wealthy, and organize large bodies of fight- 
ing men. If, therefore, any knights proved trouble- 
some, and meddled with the caravans passing from 
town to town, they attacked their fortresses and 
burned them, and hanged the robber knights from 
their own towers. Then, again, the church inter- 
fered, and ordered that a truce should be kept from 
all fighting for four days in the week, that is, from 
Wednesday evening to Monday morning. This 
was called the "Truce of God," and whoever broke 
it became an outlaw. 

It is, however, a mistake into which travellers in 
Germany often and very generally fall, to suppose 
that all the castles were nests of robber barons, 
and that they always subsisted by robbery. The 



THE WORK OF THE BARONS. 



139 



owners had certain duties which they fulfilled: 
those on the Rhine, and other rivers that are naviga- 
ble, maintained the towing paths, and kept relays 
of horses or oxen to drag the boats against the 




KNIGHT AND ATTENDANTS. 
(From a Drawing of ugo.J 

stream through their lands. For this a toll was 
paid. Those not on rivers kept up the roads, and 
entertained travellers, and furnished them with 
horses, and, if necessary, an escort, till they left the 
lands over which these barons exercised sway, and 
for this they were paid something. 

The barons, in peaceful times, did not receive the 



140 



THE ROBBER KNIGHTS. 



travellers in their castles perched on high rocks, for 
indeed they did not care to live in them themselves 
except in times of danger. They had other houses 
below, in the little towns or villages, and over the 
doors of their houses they hung their shields; so the 
travellers knew the houses where they might lodge, 
and where they could get a change of horses, by 
the shields, with the arms of the baron or knight. 
This it is which originated the signs hung above inn 
doors, signs of the red lion, the white hart, the brown 
bear, etc. The inn-keepers were the lords of the 
place. Now, if you happen to travel in the Tyrol, 
where old customs linger on, you may find that in a 
good many places the inn-keepers are still noble- 
men, and that the signs of their inns are still their 
coats-of-arms. If you go into the church-yards you 
will see the tombstones of the family of your host, 
with the arms, and with coronets over them, show- 
ing him to be a baron, or a count. I know a good 
many such inns. Elsewhere it is not so , the houses 
have been sold, and though they still keep their 
signs, the signs have no connection with the new 
owners. 




XXIII. 

HOW THE GERMANS WROTE ROMANCES. 

The Germans of the 13th and 14th centuries 
were not only active soldiers, dealing and tak- 
ing hard blows, but their minds were as active as 
their hands ; and so it comes about that we have a 
series of really grand poems that belong to this 
period, in the German language ; and not great 
poems only, but also short and beautiful pieces. 
The poetic art was cultivated first in Provence by 
the knights and gentlemen, and those who composed 
poems and sang them were called troubadours, 
which means " discoverers," from trouver, to find. 
They found out tunes as well as invented poems. 
The Germans were not slow to follow the ex- 
ample ; their poets were called " minnesingers," or 
" love-singers " ; because their lays were mostly 
love songs. Some of their songs are beautiful. 
But they did not content themselves with short lays, 
they composed also long poems. At first they 
took their subjects from abroad, from the stories of 
King Arthur and his knights, and so some of the 
finest and longest of the metrical romances of this 
time have their scenes laid in Britain. But, fortu- 
nately, they were not satisfied with borrowing from 

141 



142 



HOW THE GERMANS WROTE ROMANCES. 



abroad, and they composed heroic poems on old 
German legends. 

Charles the Great had made a collection of the 
national poems, but this was destroyed by Louis 
the Pious. Though he destroyed the collection he 
had not destroyed the remembrance from men's 
minds, and the old stories lingered on and were 
passed from mouth to ear, from one generation to 
another, till at length the poets of Germany, about 
the time of which we are speaking, were induced 
to take them up, and invest them in new poetic 
garb, and give them a fresh spell of life. 

Of these old heroic legends there are several 
distinct cycles, or groups, belonging to different 
branches of the German family. 

The first of these is the Burgundian cycle, of 
Gunther the king, his wife Brunhild, his henchman 
Hagen, his sister Kriemhild, and his brother-in-law 
Siegfried. This forms the topic of the grand 
Niebelungen-Lied. 

The second of these is the Frisian cycle, to 
which belong King Hettel and his daughter Gud- 
run ; and on their adventures turns the noble Gud- 
run-Lied. 

The third of these is the Anglo-Saxon cycle, con- 
cerning Beowulf, the Jute king, and Wayland the 
Smith. This was never recast after the 8th cent- 
ury. 

The fourth of these is the Lombard cycle, con- 
cerning kings and heroes of South Tyrol, and the 
Rose Garden of Laurin the Dwarf, above Botzen. 
This was put into form in twelve poems, which com- 






GUN THE R AND BRUNHILD. 



H3 



pose the Helden-Buch much later, in the 15th cent- 
ury. 

The most famous of all these poems is the 
Niebelungen-Lied, a grand epic in two parts, which 
may take rank beside the Iliad. It is the great- 
est monument of German national poetry in the 
Middle Ages. 

Gunther was King of the Burgundians. He lived 
at Worms. He had a beautiful sister called Kriem- 
hild. Away in the^ North, at Xanten, on the Rhine, 
lived a Netherland king, Siegmund, who had a 
brave son called Siegfried. Siegfried had been 
into the Niebelungen land, where he had slain a 
dragon and carried off a vast treasure the dragon 
guarded. He had, moreover, bathed in the dragon's 
blood, which made him invulnerable, except at one 
point between the shoulder-blades, where a linden 
leaf rested whilst he bathed in the blood. He 
heard of the beauty of Kriemhild and came to 
Worms to see her. Now Gunther had heard that 
in Iceland was a princess called Brunhild, who was 
beautiful, and wealthy, and strong, and would not 
marry any one who could not throw a spear, and 
heave a stone, and jump farther than herself. 
Gunther thought he would like to make her his 
queen, so he persuaded Siegfried to accompany him 
to Iceland, and help him to win her. Now, in the 
treasure of the Niebelungen was a cap which made 
the w r earer invisible. So Siegfried put on this cap, 
and stood behind Gunther and helped him to throw 
the stone and hurl the spear and leap. Thus Brun- 
hild was surpassed, and she consented to marry 



144 



HOW THE GERMANS WROTE ROMANCES. 



Gunthcr, and she did not know how he had been 
assisted. 

When Siegfried returned to Worms he was given 
Kriemhild to wife, and Gunther brought home his 
queen. One day when Brunhild and Kriemhild were 
going to church Brunhild wished, as queen, to enter 
the door first, but Kriemhild thrust her aside, and 
mockingly said that she should enter first, as her 
husband had helped Gunther to win Brunhild, and 
without his aid she never would have become 
queen. Brunhild was furious and meditated re- 
venge. 

Now, not long after this, a great hunt was to take 
place. Kriemhild was anxious about her dear hus- 
band ; she was afraid lest he should be wounded in 
the only vulnerable place. So she called Hagen, 
the henchman of Gunther, to her, and confided to 
him the secret, and made him promise in battle and 
in the chase to put his shield over Siegfried's back. 
She also marked a little red cross in his dress to 
show the place where alone he could be hurt. 

Now Queen Brunhild egged on her husband to 
have Siegfried killed, and they took counsel with 
Hagen. So, when they were out hunting, and 
Siegfried, who was thirsty, stooped to drink at 
a fountain, Hagen ran him through with a spear 
where Kriemhild had marked his garment. 

Then they took his body and laid it on the door- 
step of Kriemhild's house, so that, next morning, 
when she came forth early, the first thing she saw 
was her dead husband, stark and cold. 

After that she brooded on revenge. Hagen 



A GENERAL MASSACRE. 



145 



feared what she might do, so he persuaded King 
Gunther to let him carry away the Niebelungen 
treasure and throw it into the Rhine, lest she 
should use the wealth to stir up enemies against 
the king. 

After some years, Attila, or Etzel, King of the 
Huns, asked for her hand, and she consented to 
marry him. When she was Queen of the Huns she 
got her husband to invite Gunther and Hagen to 
visit him at Buda, on the Danube ; and Gunther 
accepted the invitation against the advice of 
Hagen. When they arrived at Buda, and were 
feasting in the palace, some armed men, at the in- 
stigation of Kriemhild, rushed upon the Burgundi- 
ans and began to slay them. A furious contest 
ensued, and when the Burgundians seemed to be 
gaining the upper hand Kriemhild had fire put to 
the banqueting hall and set it in a blaze. The 
Burgundians fought their way out through the fire 
and smoke, but were taken. Then Kriemhild sent 
an executioner to Gunther and had his head struck 
off, and she carried her brother's head to show it to 
Hagen ; then with Siegfried's sword she cut down 
Hagen himself, whose hands were bound. 

An old warrior, Hildebrand, enraged at her per- 
fidy and cruelty, then smote her with his blade. 
And so the story ends, amidst general massacre and 
in volumes of flame. i 




XXIV. 



HOW THE CITIES GAINED POWER. 

As you have already heard, the cities had begun 
to flourish during the crusades ; they became busy 
nurseries of art and learning, as well as of trade and 
manufacture. By degrees they acquired great 
privileges and power, and some were made by the 
emperors •' free cities," that is, they were under 
no princes, but under the emperor only. 

You will remember now that when Henry I. built 
the castles for defence against the Hungarians the 
noble families about were required to maintain 
some of their men in the fortresses throughout the 
year. In time these families became very domineer- 
ing. The towns grew in size and importance, but 
the families originally charged with the defence of 
the burg remained the holders of power in it, and 
managed the affairs of the town. When trades in- 
creased, each trade managed its own affairs by a 
ziinft, or guild, and the guilds combined against 
the noble burgers to obtain some share in the man- 
agement of affairs. After much rioting and fighting 
they carried their point, and so the council was 
formed of an Upper House of hereditary burgers, 
who in the 15th century were called patricians, 
and of a Lower House, to which members were 

146 



THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE. 



147 



elected. If you go to Germany and walk through 
the aisles and cloisters of the great town churches 
you will see them crowded with splendid monu- 
ments, emblazoned with heraldic achievements. 
These are the tombs of the hereditary patricians, 
men who held themselves as proudly as the coun- 
try aristocracy did in their castles. 

The troubles occasioned by the interregnum, the 
interference with trade, the way in which the trav- 
ellers were plundered, became insupportable, and in 
1241 Hamburg and Lubeck agreed together to 
keep order in their neighborhoods. Then Bruns- 
wick and Bremen joined, and at last a hundred 
towns were leagued together, and formed so strong 
a body that the disturbers of the public peace were 
cowed into order. This league was called the 
Hansa. It maintained armies and fleets, and even 
carried on wars with the kings of Norway and Den- 
mark, in which the Hansa was victorious. Its fleets 
swept the sea of pirates, and its troops taught the 
robber knights to cultivate peace. 




PEASANT AND PLOUGH (13TH CENTURY). 



; 



fsjj j A 


^T<£\ 


5 ^^L 


W^^ 
^^^ 


\£%A 


\s ^3r&^s*\ 


■y /"Ot^" 


?aYjH 




flffffi^jfrmay/jl] 



XXV. 



A GOOD KING FROM A SWISS CASTLE. 



(1273-1292.) 

At last the condition of affairs became so intol- 
erable that the German princes assembled to elect 
a new emperor, who might bring order out of the 
universal confusion. Their choice fell on Rudolph, 
Count of Hapsburg, a simple, courageous, and 
shrewd man. Hapsburg, or Habsburg, is a little cas- 
tle near Konigsfelden, in Switzerland. It was built 
in 1020 by Count Radbod of Altenburg, an ancestor 
of the family. The ruins still stand of this cradle of 
the Austrian imperial family, of which they were 
deprived by papal law one hundred and fifty years 
after Rudolph's elevation, and it has quite recently 
been restored to them, as a wedding gift, by the 
Canton of Aarau, on the marriage of Rudolph, the 
prince imperial, with a Belgian princess. From the 
broken tower the eye takes in at a single glance the 
whole Swiss patrimony of the Hapsburgs, — an es- 
tate far more limited than that of main- a British 
peer, — from which Rudolph was called to wield the 
sceptre of Charlemagne. 

The first act of Rudolph was to march against 
Ottocar, King of Bohemia, who had gained posses- 

J48 




RUDOLPH OF HAPSBURG. 



149 



no 



A GOOD KING IIWM A SWISS CASTLE. 



sion of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. A 
great battle was fought in 1278 on the Marchfeld, 
near Vienna, in which Ottocar was defeated and 
killed. Rudolph then appropriated to himself the 
duchy of Austria, together with Styria and Carin- 
thia, and they have remained ever since the patri- 
mony of the Hapsburgs. 





XXVI. 



DID WILLIAM TELL SHOOT? 

RUDOLPH'S son Albert was not acknowledged 
emperor till he had defeated his rival, Adolph of 
Nassau. Albert was the second son. The eldest 
had died early, leaving an infant son, John. Albert 
laid his grasp on the Hapsburg county in Switzer- 
land, and refused to give it up to his nephew John. 

Albert was a stern, cruel man, who had been em- 
bittered by his disappointment at not being recog- 
nized as emperor immediately on the death of his 
father. Albert was not content with depriving his 
nephew of his inheritance, he tried to unite Schwyz, 
Uri, and Unterwalden with his Swiss family posses- 
sions; but the simple Alpine shepherds claimed to 
be free under the imperial crown. Then Albert 
despatched governors to crush them into subjection. 
Among them was Gessler, appointed to rule Uri. 
He treated the people with great cruelty. At last 
the Swiss rose in revolt, and expelled the governors ; 
Gessler was shot by William Tell. The story of Tell 
having been ordered to shoot an apple off his son's 
head is fabulous, but there really was such a man, 
and he got his name of Tell (Toll, Tolpel) from 
being half-witted. When Albert heard of the 
revolt he was filled with fury, and resolved on 

I5i 



152 



DID WILLIAM TELL SHOOT? 



administering to the rebels a terrible chastisement. 
His revenge, however, was prevented by his own 
death. He was journeying one day within sight of his 
castle of Hapsburgwith his nephew John, whom he 
had deprived of it, and some Swabian knights, when he 
crossed the river Reuss, and was separated from his 
retinue. John of Swabia, his nephew, and three 
others, all in the plot, were with him. No sooner 
had he stepped out of the ferry-boat, than, at a word 
from John, one of the knights clove the emperor's 
skull with an axe. The retainers on the further 
bank, terrified, took to flight, leaving their dying 
master to breathe his last in the arms of a poor 
peasant girl who happened to pass. 

" A peasant girl that royal head upon her bosom laid, 
And, shrinking not for woman's dread, the face of death surveyed. 
Alone she sate. From hill and wood, low- sank the mournful sun ; 
Fast gushed the fount of noble blood. Treason his worst had done. 
With her long hair she vainly pressed the w r ounds, to staunch the tide, 
Unknown, on that meek humble breast, imperial Albert died." 

A direful vengeance was wreaked by the children 
of the murdered monarch ; not, however, upon the 
murderers, for, with one exception, they had escaped, 
but upon their families, relations, and friends; and 
one thousand victims are believed to have expiated, 
with their lives, a crime of which they were totally 
innocent. Agnes, Queen of Hungary, daughter of 
Albert, and heir to his gloomy, cruel spirit, is said to 
have presided at the executions. When sixty-three 
unfortunate men were butchered before her, u Hah ! " 
she exclaimed, " now I bathe in May-dew ! " Al- 
t hough this is asserted by most historians, yet we 



S WITZERLA ND INDEPENDENT. 



153 



are glad to say that recent investigations by Swiss 
historians have completely disproved the part of 
Agnes in the tragedy, and we are rejoiced to think 
that such a stain does not rest on the character of 
the queen. 

The Swiss remained resolute- in their determina- 
tion not to become serfs of the House of Hapsburg. 
Leopold of Austria, six years after his father's death, 
marched an army against them, but was completely 
defeated at Morgarten. Still more disastrous was 
the defeat of Leopold's grandson, Leopold III., at 
Sempach, in 1386. But it took another battle, 
nearly a hundred years later — that of Morat, in 
1476 — to prove to the world that the time of fig 1 ting 
in armour on horseback was over; that men on foot, 
lightly armed, were more than a match for knights 
clothed in steel. The weight of a charge of ar- 
moured men was great, but a knight, once dis- 
mounted and thrown down, lay like a log on the 
ground, unable to raise himself. Although the 
Swiss had proved their power to maintain their inde- 
pendence, it was not till the peace of Westphalia, in 
1648, that Switzerland was finally and fully separ- 
ated from the German Empire. 



XXVII. 




THE GOLDEN BULL. 

(I347-I437-) 

Ox the death of Albert, the princes of Germany 
resolved again to commit the same blunder that 
they had made in electing Rudolph of Hapsburg, 
that is, to choose a petty noble and exalt him to be 
emperor. The little counts of Hapsburg had man- 
aged pretty well to enrich themselves, and make 
themselves very powerful. The choice fell now on 
Henry, Count of Luxemburg, a gallant knight, but 
that was all. He at once married his son John to 
Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Wenceslas, King 
of Bohemia. The usual fatal attraction of Italy 
drew Henry VII. over the Alps. Brescia stood out 
against him, and his brother fell under the walls. 
Then Henry vowed he would cut off the noses of 
all the men in Brescia when he took the town; but 
plague broke out among his troops, whilst famine 
ravaged the besieged. Then a compromise was 
agreed to. Brescia would open her gates, and 
Henry would content himself with knocking off the 
noses of all the male statues in the city. Shortly 
after he was poisoned, whilst unsuccessfully besi 
ing Siena. On his death, in 131 3, discord broke out 

154 



DISCORD BREAKS OUT. 



155 



in Germany. One party elected Louis the Bavarian, 
the other chose Frederick of Austria, son of Albert 
I. Louis belonged to the Wittelsbach family, 
which had got the duchy of Bavaria after the ex- 
pulsion of the Welfs. As neither would withdraw 
his claims, a long and tedious contest ensued, that 




FORTIFIED CAMP ( 1 5'1'H CENTURY). 
(From a contemporary Chronicle.) 

lasted eight years, till at Miihldorf Frederick was 
defeated and taken and imprisoned. His imprison- 
ment, however, did not bring peace, for his brothers 
continued the contest. Then Louis went to him 
in his prison, and Frederick promised that he would 
resign his pretensions, and, if he were unable to 
bring his brothers to agree to this, that he would 
return to prison. On these terms Louis set him 
free. At the instigation of the Pope, who dreaded 
the power of the Bavarian, Leopold, brother of 



15' 



THE GOLD EX BULL. 



Frederick, refused submission to the compact. 
Thereupon Frederick honorably returned to cap- 
tivity. Louis was touched by his integrity. He 
received him with affection and agreed to divide the 
realm with him. Thenceforth they reigned together, 
united with such cordial affection that they ate at 
the same table and slept in the same bed. Frederick 
died in 1330, and Louis in 1347. Then Charles 
IV., of Luxemburg, King of Bohemia, grandson of 
Henry VII., was elected. From him comes the so- 
called Golden Bull (1356). This takes its name 
from a golden seal (bulla) appended to the deed. 

The Golden Bull was issued to determine who were 
to elect the emperors, and reduced the number of 
electors to seven — the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, 
Treves, and the temporal princes of Bohemia, Bran- 
denburg, Saxony, and the Palatine of the Rhine — 
the King of Bohemia as butler, the Palatine as sewer, 
the Duke of Saxony as marshall, and the Margrave 
of Brandenburg as chamberlain. Frankfort was ap- 
pointed as the place where elections were to take 
place, and Aix as the place where the emperors were 
to be crowned. Sometimes you may see in muse- 
ums, sometimes in old curiosity-shops, metal plates of 
ancient German casting, with a circle in the middle, 
in which is seated a figure ,of the emperor, and 
round the rim seven medalliorYs, in each of which is 
a figure representing an elector. The idea was, that 
as the sun was the centre of a system of seven plan- 
ets, so should the German emperor, the sun of the 
earthly system, be the centre of a political planetary 
world, of which these seven electors were to be the 




157 



[ 5 8 



THE GOLD EX BULL. 



great luminaries. Charles hoped by this means to se- 
cure -the imperial crown to his own family. He had 
already got the crown of Bohemia, and he was aim- 
ing to get hold of Brandenburg. He considered 
the Palatine of the Rhine easily managed. \ He was 
a shrewd man, and was the first to see the danger 
Italy was to the emperor, so he made no attempts 
to recover it for the empire, and he kept on good 
terms with the popes, who, thus relieved of anxiety 
for themselves, favored him. Charles did all in his 
power to aggrandize his family. He bribed the 
electors to choose his eldest son, Wenceslas, as his 
successor; he married his second son, Sigismund, to 
Mary, daughter of the King of Hungary and Poland, 
in the expectation of succeeding to those countries. 
Wenceslas, who followed his father, was, if not a 
madman, as little suited as one to be emperor. He 
was addicted to drunkenness and sports. At one 
moment he jested, at another burst into insane fits 
of rage. The Germans thought him a fool ; the Bo- 
hemians regarded him as a maniac. As he coveted 
the possessions of the Bohemian nobles he invited 
them to meet him at Willamow, where he received 
them under a black tent that opened into two 
others, one white, the other red. The nobles were 
introduced one by one, and were required to cede 
their lands, and receive them back as fiefs of the 
crown. Those who consented were sent into the 
white tent, where they were well feasted ; those who 
refused were dragged into the red tent and put to 
death. He was surrounded by savage hounds, which 
accompanied him to the chase, and constantly at- 



AN EMPEROR 'S DOGS. 



159 



tended him. Of these the two largest shared his 
bedroom. One night his wife, Queen Joanna, a 
Bavarian princess, rose from her bed, when one of 




THE MARTYRDOM OF HUSS. 
(From a wood-cut at Prague.) 



the hounds sprang on her and so tore her that she 
died of the wounds. 

At last his uncles and brother Sigismund, con- 
scious of the ruin into which his crimes and folly 






I0 THE GOLDEN BULL. 

were hurrying the family, seized him and imprisoned 
him in a castle in Austria. 

His brother Sigismund succeeded him, a vain, 
arrogant, and deceitful man. Under him the great 
council of Constance was held, and the Hussite wars 
began. 

Not only in the German Empire but throughout 
the whole Western Church the general disorder had 
affected religion ; discipline was relaxed, and abuses 
had crept in. Moreover, there were at the same 
time three opposition popes, and some countries 
recognized one pope, some another, and others 
again the third. Accordingly, a council of the 
Church was summoned to assemble at Constance to 
put an end to these scandals. To restore unity to 
the Church the Council deposed all three popes and 
elected a new one, who took the title of Martin V. 
At this council appeared John Huss, a professor of 
the University of Prague, who had denounced the 
corruptions of the Church, and was bitterly opposed 
to the Church being endowed with temporal goods. 
This last ground embittered the bishops against him 
especially, and without a proper hearing, on the 
most frivolous charges — such as that he had main- 
tained the existence of four gods — he was con- 
demned and burnt. The flames of his pyre set Bo- 
hemia in conflagration. Huss had strongly opposed 
the withdrawal of the cup from the laity in com- 
munion. The cup was made the badge of the party 
of Huss, which was called after it Calixtine. The 
Bohemians armed, embroidered banners with a gold- 
en cup, met in tents, where they celebrated the 






A ONE-EYED LEADER. !6i 

communion and distributed it in both kinds. Zis- 
ka " with the Flail," a man with one eye, put himself 
at their head, entered Prague, and flung the burgo- 
master and the councillors out of the windows of 
the town-hall, on the pikes and pitchforks of his 
followers. Frightful confusion followed. A party, 




JOHN, COUNT ZISKA, OF TROCZNOW. 
(From an engraving.) 

more extreme, separated from Ziska, and settled in 
an island of the Moldau. The one-eyed leader of 
the Hussites fell on them and cut them to pieces, 
with the exception of two. The strife which had 
begun about communion in two kinds soon became 
one of Bohemian against German, and the country 
ran with blood. The imperial army was defeated. 
Ziska, at the head of his Hussites, burst into Ger- 



162 



THE G OL DEN BULL. 



many, besieged towns, stormed castles, and butch- 
ered and burned without compunction. At Brod 
he burned two hundred people in the church, and 




SCENE FROM HUSSITE WARS. 
(From a contemporary Chronicle.) 



an unfortunate man, who was secretary to the chap- 
ter at Prague, had his flesh torn off, and he was 
then roasted in a tar barrel. Saxony was wasted by 
the Hussites to the gates of Dresden. 






"SET FIRE TO THE VILLAGES 7" 



163 



The free imperial city of Altenburg fell into their 
hands. The citizens who were taken with arms 
were tortured to death. Men, women, and children 
were drawn into the blazing cathedral and burnt by 
hundreds. The sick and infirm were thrown into 
fires made in the streets. ''This is John Huss's 
wake," said the Bohemians. " Oh ! " exclaimed one 
of the sufferers, " the Catholics burnt one goose 
(Huss, in Bohemian, means a goose) and you are 
giving us the same." 

The fairest regions of Germany, Bavaria, Fran- 
conia, as well as Saxony and Bohemia, were devas- 
tated, and the terror of the Calixtines surpassed that 
with which the Germans of old had regarded the 
Hungarian marauders. ' A splinter struck Ziska's 
remaining eye. Though blind, he still led his Huss- 
ites. On one occasion, having compelled his men 
to march day and night, they murmured, and said to 
him, " Although night and day be one to you, they 
are not so to us." 

" How ! you cannot see ! " exclaimed Ziska, " set 
fire to the villages and walk by the blaze they give." 

At last, in 1433, another council met at Basle, and 
at it communion in both kinds was granted to the 
Bohemians. Ziska was then dead. The country 
was worn out with war, and peace was proclaimed. 



XXVIII. 



A SLEEPY KING. 



(1440-1493.) 

The Hapsburg or Austrian house succeeded that 
of Luxemburg, having recovered the imperial crown 
on the death of Sigismund, and thenceforth it re- 
mained in their family, almost exclusively, till the 
dissolution of the German' empire in 1806. Albert 
II. reigned but one year. He was succeeded by 
Frederick III. No emperor wore the crown so long 
as he, and none cared less for its duties than he. 
He often fell asleep whilst the most important 
affairs of the state were being discussed, which 
acquired for him the nick-name of " Emperor Night- 
cap." The robber-knights began again their dep- 
redations, quarrelled with and fought each other, 
as if there were no emperor above them to keep 
order in Germany. Huge bands of robbers swept 
the country, and Frederick bought them off. His 
discontented citizens of Vienna besieged him in his 
own palace. He had an adviser, Caspar Schlick, 
whose only idea of policy was to patch up a com- 
promise and put off settling difficult matters to a 
future day. Indeed, one may say that Schlick's 
doctrine was composed of two maxims, " Never do 

164 




ARTILLERY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
(.From Froissart's Chronicle.) 



165 



!56 A SLEEPY A'/XG. 

to-day what can be done to-morrow," and "Never 
do yourself what can be left to be done by an- 
other." This was just what suited Emperor Night- 
cap. 

The peasants of the Rhcetian Alps asserted 
their independence, and formed a confederacy de- 
nominated the Grey-Band, from the grey frocks 
worn by the peasants, and this has given name to 
the canton of Grisons, or Graubiinden. Their exam- 
ple was followed by Zurich and Schwyz. As the 
emperor was too lazy to take the field himself he 
invited a body of French mercenaries, called the 
Armagnacs, to invade Switzerland ; but though 
they killed fifteen thousand brave Swiss they lost so 
many of their own men that they retired dispirited. 
On the south-east the Turks threatened Ger- 
man}'. They created havock in Hungary, and en- 
tered and devastated Austria ; but Frederick did 
nothing to repel them. He amused himself in his 
garden, picking caterpillars out of his roses and 
catching slugs with buttered cabbage leaves, and let 
the Turks destroy the villages and harvests of his 
people. 

At last an Italian friar, S. John Capistran, put 
himself at the head of three thousand peasants, 
armed with flails and pitchforks, and fell on the 
Turkish host which was besieging Belgrade, when 
the town was hardly able to hold out another day. 
At the head of the peasants he routed the Turks 
and relieved the city. 

The Hungarians gave themselves a valiant king, 
John Hunyadi, and his son Matthias ; and the 



ENRAGED PEASANTS. 



167 



Bohemians placed themselves under the gallant 
George of Podjebrad. But this did not trouble 
Frederick ; the loss of two kingdoms was nothing to 
him. 

His indolence so exasperated his wife Eleanor, 
that she said to her son, Maximilian, one day in a 
fit of impatience, "On my word, if I thought you 
would be like your father, I should be ashamed of 
being the mother of such a king! " 

Fritz the Palatine also rebelled against the em- 
peror, and built a tower to his castle at Heidelberg, 
which he named Flout Kaiser (Trutz Kaiser), as a 
mark of insolence to Frederick. The Margrave of 
Baden and the Duke of Wittemberg, however, 
marched against him, and, to devastate the har- 
vests of the Palatinate more completely, tied 
branches of trees to their horses' tails as they 
rode among the wheat. The enraged peasants rose 
to a man and helped Fritz ; he beat the imperial 
army and took the duke and margrave prisoners. He 
gave them a sumptuous entertainment, but placed 
no bread on the table. The prisoner-guests asked 
to have a little bread with their meat. " Very 
sorry there is none," answered Fritz, " but you have 
spoiled all the corn, and so must do without." 

Frederick was too lazy to put his hands to the 
doors, turn the handles, and open them. He went 
up to them with his hands in his pockets and 
kicked at the doors till some one came to open 
them, or he burst them in. He hurt his foot one 
day by so doing, and as mortification threatened, 
the surgeons cut off his foot. " Ah, me," said Fred- 



1 68 



A SLEEPY KING. 





crick, " a healthy boor is better than a sick em- 
peror." 

Fortunately for Germany, his son Maximilian was 
the reverse of his father in everything. He was 
full of energy, intelligence, and with a noble heart. 

For once a good idea came into the dull head of 
Frederick ; but perhaps it was not his idea, his wife 
may have thought of it. This was the idea, to get 
the sweet young princess, Mary of Burgundy, the 
only child of the duke, as wife for the gallant 
young prince. Maximilian was the handsomest man 
of his time ; he had bright, honest eyes, full of life, 
and long, fair, silky hair that fell over his shoulders. 
His nose was aquiline. If his face had a fault it 
was in the long lower lip, which he inherited from 
his father, and which is called the Hapsburg lip. 
You see it in the pictures of most of the princes and 
emperors of that house. Perhaps you have been 
so fortunate as to see Albert Diirer's engraved por- 
trait of the Emperor Maximilian, or to have seen 
his figure in bronze on the great tomb he erected 
for himself at Innsbruck. These likenesses were 
taken when he was much older, but we can see 
from them what a royal and noble face he had. 
Also, Mary of Burgundy was very lovely. She was 
as good as she was beautiful. She was, moreover, 
heiress to all Burgundy and the Netherlands. The 
young Max went to Ghent to meet her. He 
rode into the town with a wreath of flowers over his 
long fair hair, with pearls twisted with the flowers, 
dressed in a suit of silver armour richly enamelled 
with gold, mounted on a fine bay horse. Mary 




MAXIMILIAN AND BRIDE, MARY OF BURGUNDY. 
(From a Drawing in the Nuremberg Museum. ^ 



169 



!- A SLEEPY KJXG. 

came to meet him, on a white horse with silver 
trappings. When they met in the street of Ghent 
both dismounted, and whilst the bells of the town 
hall and the churches rang, and the people cheered 
and waved their caps, the beautiful young prince 
and princess met and kissed each other. They 
were married in 1477, when Max was only eighteen. 
Unfortunately, a very few years later, in 1482, poor 
Mary was hurt by a fall from her horse when hunt- 
ing, and died of her injuries, in the bloom of life, 
but not till she had borne him a son, Philip, after- 
wards Philip I. of Spain. 

The death of Mary was the signal for a revolt 
in the Netherlands. The Flemings refused submis- 
sion to the Hapsburgs, and seized the person of 
the little Philip, whom they alone recognized as 
Mary's successor. A revolt broke out at Bruges, 
where Maximilian was taken prisoner by the citi- 
zens and shut up in the castle. His jester formed 
a scheme for his liberation ; he provided horses for 
flight, and a rope-ladder, by which Max might de- 
scend from the window of his prison. Then the 
jester plunged into the canal which encircled the 
castle, to swim across. But the town kept swans 
in the moat, and when these swans saw the man 
swimming, they rushed at him with their great 
flapping wings and beaks, and so beat and pinched 
and frightened the poor fellow that he made the 
best of his retreat. 

Max was kept a prisoner for four months, and 
was only set at liberty when he took a solemn 
oath not to chastise the citizens for having held 
him in bonds. 




FREDERICK III. 
(From the statue on his tomb at Vienna.) 



I/I 



XXIX. 



BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW. 



(1493-1518.) 

If ever you get a chance of seeing Hans Burgk- 
mair's ''Triumph of Maximilian," look well and 
patiently at the series of 135 wood-cuts. It rep- 
resents the procession of the emperor after the 
fashion of an old Roman imperial triumph, with 
groups of figures depicting the different events of 
his reign. This was the idea of Max himself, who 
was filled with the old craze that he was the rep- 
resentative of the Caesars, the head of the earthly 
power, as the Pope was the head of the spiritual 
power. Before you hear the history of the reign of 
Maximilian you must be told something about 
the set of pictures illustrative of his reign. Hans 
Burgkmair was ordered to make a series of draw- 
ings personifying the life, endeavours, and fame of 
the emperor; glorifying his wars, conquests, and 
alliances, and giving testimony to the splendours of 
the Holy Roman empire, and the far extended 
possessions of the House of Hapsburg. Burgkmair 
began his work by making a series of miniature 
paintings on parchment, to the number of 109. 
Each of these was to be reproduced in two wood- 

172 



BURGKMAIR 'S PL A TES. 



173 



cuts, so that the work, when completed, would have 
made 218 plates. However, when the wood en- 
graving was begun, the artist touched up and 
improved his designs, so that the engravings are 
not exactly like the miniatures. The latter are all 
preserved in Vienna. The work was begun in 
1 5 16, and was stopped forever by the death of the 
emperor in 15 19. Only a few proof copies had 
been struck off when the wood blocks were dis- 
persed, no one knows how or why. The few copies 
of the engravings were become very rare and fetched 
large prices, when some forty of the wood blocks 
were discovered in the castle of Ambras, near 
Innsbruck, and then ninety-six more were found in 
the Jesuit College at Gratz, in Styria. Thus 135 of 
the blocks have been recovered, but all search for 
the remainder has been in vain. In the year 1796 a 
few copies were printed from the original wood 
blocks, and may still be had, but at a high cost. 
One or two of the plates have, however, been re- 
produced of late years. Perhaps the most beautiful 
of the groups is that of the three standard-bearers, 
three knights in armour, bearing the banners of 
the Archduchy of Austria, a white fesse on a red 
field, of the Margraves with eagles, and of Styria 
with a panther. The faces of the knights are noble 
and beautiful, and we can get an idea from them of 
what good and generous knights were in those 
days. Another plate represents a princess on 
horseback, attended by ladies, and the bridle held 
by gentlemen with laurel wreaths round their 
heads. It is supposed that the princess is Mary 



'74 



BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW. 



of Burgundy, and, if so, we can understand how 
Max loved her, and all his life long thought of her. 
The figure is graceful, and the face simple and 
sweet. Her hair is done up in a silk net, or cap, over 
which is a golden crown, but little, light ringlets 
curl down from her brow on either side of her 
lovely face. She wears three gorgeous necklaces, 
very wide, made of plates of gold set with jewels, 
and so fitted as to set, one round the throat, the 
next over the bosom, and the third over the shoul- 
ders. She wears white linen sleeves gathered in 
twice between the shoulder and elbow. Her skirt 
is of the most superb silk and gold brocade, repre- 
senting pomegranates in the leaf, and bursting 
fruit and flower. The caparison of the horse is of 
red velvet, embroidered with gold pomegran- 
ates, and over the saddle is cast a mantle of 
ermine. The gentlemen leading her white horse 
have magnificent chains round their necks, and 
ermine tippets, short cloaks, and tunics richly em- 
broidered. They are both shown turning their 
heads and looking back and up at the lovely girl- 
ish face r as if that was the thing best worth see- 
ing in the whole procession. 

Maximilian married a second time Bianca 
Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, but not 
till twelve years after the death of his dear Mary 
of Burgundy. He never really loved Bianca, who 
was a cold, hard woman, very proud, and without 
grace of mind or of disposition. 

Maximilian stands as a boundary stone between 
the old and the new, between the mediaeval and 






VA RIO US REFORMS. \ y 5 

the modern times. He was brave and noble as a 
perfect knight, the pattern of chivalry, and he had 
an eager and active mind, a love of what is beau- 
tiful and what is good. He tried to improve what 
was bad and decaying, and he would have done 
more had the power been his to do so, but the em- 
pire was a magnificent sham. His father's weakness, 
the growing power of the vassals, the hostility of 
the popes had broken its strength, and he was 
hampered throughout his reign by his want of 
means to carry out those schemes which he planned 
for the good of the country. Even his enemies 
acknowledged his virtues and ability. Once when 
a courtier in the presence of Louis XI. of France 
sneered at the emperor, and called him " the Bur- 
gomaster of Augsburg," Louis, who was the bitter 
foe of Maximilian, answered, " You fool, to scoff at 
Max ! Do you not know that when this burgo- 
master pulls the bell all Germany springs to arms, 
and France trembles? " In order to put an end to 
the incessant quarrels which went on between the 
little princes and nobles, in 1495, at a diet or par- 
liament at Worms, the emperor made a law that 
no man should be suffered to redress his wrongs, 
real or imaginary, by violence ; if he had a com- 
plaint against another, he must bring it before the 
imperial courts. In order to improve the admin- 
istration of justice the empire was divided into 
ten districts, or circles, — Swabia, Bavaria, Franconia, 
the Upper Rhine, Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Aus- 
tria, Burgundy, the Rhenish Electorate, and Upper 
Saxony. Maximilian wanted to organize and gov- 



]^6 BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW. 

ern the empire through these divisions, but was so 
opposed that he was unable to carry out his idea. 

Under him the post was first arranged. An Ital- 
ian, Count de la Torre, was at his court, and he was 
entrusted with the organization of a postal system. 
This was gradually perfected, and was left under 
the control of the family which originated it, and 
which became princely, and was entitled Turn und 
Taxis. If you look through a collection of postal 
stamps you will see that the early German stamps 
bear the "Turn u. Taxis" and the arms of that 
family on them ; and the family only lost the post- 
office in late times, bit by bit ; the last control 
was taken from them in 1866. 

To manage the post-office in the empire was no 
easy task, as all the little princes and petty states 
and free towns had to be brought to agreement. 
The roads had to be put in order, post-horses pro- 
vided in relays along them, and the post-messengers 
had to be protected from robbers. As the empire 
comprised two thousand independent territories the 
Turn and Taxis family had enough to do. A great 
debt of gratitude is owed them by Germany, but 
the postal monopoly enriched them. They now 
possess large estates and several palaces from the 
profit of the post-office, which they held for three 
hundred years. 

The great enemies of Germany at this time were 
the Turks, the French, and the Pope. The Turks 
were a constant menace, and the emperor was 
obliged to call the princes together separately, and 
entreat for men and money wherewith to oppose 



MARRIAGE OF PHILIP AND JOANNA. x yy 

them. But they did not care ; they thought that it 
was a long way from Constantinople to West Ger- 
many, and there was all Hungary and Austria 
between. The French king was jealous of the 
emperor because he had got hold of Burgundy, so 
that Maximilian had foes on his east and west. 
Moreover, Italy was disturbed, and he had to enter 
that with a small army — he was unable to scrape 
together a large one. The French had overrun the 
North of Italy, and had carried off Ferdinand, King 
of Naples, in chains ; but Maximilian could do noth- 
ing to oppose France. 

The popes, moreover, were draining Germany of 
money, and they kept the empire weak by embroil- 
ing it with other kingdoms, and by stirring up 
discord within it. 

Maximilian had the happiness to unite his son 
Philip to Joanna, the daughter of Ferdinand and 
Isabella of Spain, heiress of all Spain, and of 
the newly-discovered continent of America. More- 
over, by agreement, the kingdoms of Hungary and 
Bohemia were re-united under the House of Haps- 
burg. Thus it did seem likely that the empire would 
fulfil its dream and become a world-wide sover- 
eignty, embracing all Germany, the Netherlands, 
Burgundy, Italy, Spain, and America. This was 
flattering to the ambition of the emperor, who did 
not see that it was really sowing the seeds of ruin 
for the empire and for his own house. When a man 
has a small capital he can manage a small farm, but, 
if he is ambitious, and tries to secure three and 
even four farms in the hopes of prospering on 



i;S 



BETWEEN THE OLD A. YD THE NEIV. 



them, when he has not the means of properly culti- 
vating them, it is pretty certain that he will soon be 
bankrupt. Now this is precisely what the Haps- 
burgs were doing. Instead of contracting their 
ambition within their means, and trying to farm 
German}- well, they took on all these other farms, 
which they could not supervise, and which drained 
their money away, exhausted their energies, and 
distracted their attention. 




KING JOHN OF BOHEMIA. 

^.Frorn his seal.) 



XXX. 

MEN BEGIN TO PRINT BOOKS. 

BOOKS had hitherto been written with the hand, 
and this made them very costly. They were writ- 
ten on parchment, on waxed tables, or on papyrus. 
At last a German, at the beginning of the 14th cent- 
ury, discovered how to make paper out of linen 
rags. If you hold paper sheets to the light you will 
see that there are peculiar marks on them, called 
water-marks ; these were originally the badges of 
the makers. The very earliest of these marks is a 
circle with a cross on it, and was adopted by the 
first inventor in 1301. Many of the water-marks 
are the badges of noble families, whose tenants 
made the paper. Thus the letters P and Y, some- 
times separate and sometimes conjoined, are the 
initials of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and 
his wife, Isabella of Portugal. Other symbols are 
the fleur-de-lys, the unicorn and the anchor. 
Fools cap paper is so called because paper of that 
size was originally marked with a joker's cap and 
bells, and post paper takes its name from a bugle 
which was in use as a water-mark on paper of 
this size by the manufacturers from 1370. It some- 
times appears on a shield, and in the 17th century 

179 



!8o MEN BEGIN TO PRINT BOOKS. 

is surmounted by a ducal coronet, in which form it 
is still used on ordinary writing paper. 

The first paper factories in Germany were between 
Cologne and Mainz, about the year 1320. In 
Nuremberg a factory worked by water-power was 
established in 1390 which was quite a novelty. 

Printing was discovered by John Gutenberg in 
1436. Already wood-cut pictures, and even written 
sentences, had been printed, but no one had thought 
of making movable letters. At first the paper 
was pressed down on the engraved block, and 
printed on one side. The outlines only of figures 
were printed, and then they were painted in by hand. 
At last John Gensfleisch, of Sulgeloch, known as 
Gutenberg, which was the maiden name of his 
mother, saw how much better it would be to have 
movable types. As he was a poor man he went to 
a rich goldsmith, John Fust, of Mainz, and to Peter 
SchofTer, a professional copyist, of Gernsheim to 
get help. SchofTer drew and wrote beautifully, and 
he was to design the letters, and Fust was to 
find the money for casting them. They also 
invented printers' ink, and in 1457 issued the first 
printed book, the Latin psalter, and five years later 
the first printed Bible. Fust behaved very badly 
to the inventor. As soon as he had the secret, and 
saw that the experiments were likely to be success- 
ful, he asked Gutenberg to pay him back the money 
he had advanced him, and when he was unable to 
do this brought an action against him, and seized 
his printing-press and blocks. Poor Gutenberg was 






STOR Y OF FA UST. x g r 

forced to leave Mainz, and then Fust and Schoffer 
finished printing the Bible without him. The 
rapidity with which copies were turned out of the 
press, the exact resemblance one bore to another, 
created astonishment and suspicion, so that it was 
reported that Fust was in league with the Devil, 
who helped him to multiply copies of the Bible. 
Thus came about the story of John Faust, who sold 
himself to the Devil for wealth, a story which was 
afterwards used by the greatest of German poets 
as the foundation of the greatest of German 
poems. 




XXXI. 



A GREAT STIR IN THE CHURCH. 



ABOUT this time began that first crack or schism 
in the Church, which, after a little while, spread and 
separated a large part of Christendom from the 
Catholic Church. This large part that separated 
itself was called Protestant, whilst that part which 
remained was called Catholic. This schism arose 
because there was great cause of discontent with 
the conduct of the popes, and this discontent was 
well founded. 

At last the Germans had come to see that the 
Pope was the enemy to their national unity. But 
the popes were only so because they dreaded the 
power of the emperors, who claimed to be kings of 
Naples and Sicily, — and so had a claw cutting into 
the popes from the South, — and also to be kings of 
Lombardy and Rome, and so drove a long sharp 
claw into their hearts over the Alps from the North. 
They did not want to be made the domestic chap- 
lains of the emperors, so they worked against them 
with might and main ; and as Germany was a very 
loosely compacted state, where every prince set up 
to be independent, and many of the bishops and 
some abbots were sovereign princes also, the popes 
were able to stir up confusion in Germany with the 

[82 



SALE OF INDULGENCES. 



183 



greatest ease. The archbishops and bishops had 
been made sovereigns by Charles the Great, in the 
hope that they would help the emperor against 
the other princes ; but instead of that they were 
always ready at the call of the Pope to head oppo- 
sition against the emperor. The archbishops of 
Cologne and Mainz, of Treves and Salzburg, the 
bishops of Wiirzburg, Eichstadt, Minister, Pader- 
born, Bamberg, etc., the abbots of Fulda, Berchtes- 
gaden, etc., were all independent sovereigns, owing 
very slight obedience to the emperor, and the em- 
pire was reduced to little more than a high-sound- 
ing name, without cohesion. The emperor was 
head of the state, but the members moved inde- 
pendently of the head. The condition had become 
intolerable. Law, order, everything was in confu- 
sion, and suddenly Germany woke to see its misery 
and resolve to bring it to an end, and, to begin, it 
determined to have done with the interference of 
the Pope, and to get rid of the archbishops and 
bishops and abbots who acted as his henchmen. 

It happened at this time that the Pope was in 
want of money wherewith to build St. Peter's 
Church at Rome, which he desired to make the 
most magnificent cathedral in the world, as became 
the Mother Church of Christendom. He set about 
it by the sale of indulgences. These were farmed 
out to certain men, who went through Christendom 
disposing of them. In Germany appeared a Do- 
minican friar, Tetzel by name, who sold them in 
great quantities, and was unscrupulous in the way 
in which he did it, trading on the ignorance and 







h, « 



z .5 



— 

2 «- 



M E 

- : 

— - 



184 



A NEW DOCTRINE. 1 85 

credulity of the people, to the great scandal of 
right-feeling men. You must understand what 
indulgences really were, because a great deal has 
been said about them which is not true. Accord- 
ing to Catholic teaching, when a man does that 
which is wrong two results follow : he becomes 
guilty in the sight of God, and he incurs conse- 
quences to himself that are painful. For instance, 
if you were to become drunk, you would incur sin 
and suffering, the suffering being a headache. Now 
the Catholic Church taught that all sin entailed 
suffering, and that however much the guilt might 
be put away, the suffering remained to be gone 
through in this life or in the next. The Church 
taught that the guilt was expiated by true repent- 
ance, which is made up of three parts, contrition, 
confession, and amendment. But though a man 
might be restored to God's favor by repentance he 
was not let off the chastisement. The popes claimed 
the power of remitting the suffering consequent on 
sin, and indulgences were releases from these conse- 
quences ; but they were only granted conditionally 
on true repentance, and this condition was always 
printed or written on them. Now it is easy to see 
what use unscrupulous men would make of these, 
and it was a startling thing to see the popes claim- 
ing to grant them. 

A Wittenberg monk, named Martin Luther, 
wrote to the Archbishop of Mainz to complain of 
the harm done to ignorant people by the sale of in- 
dulgences, and then he fastened up to the door of 
the castle church at Wittenberg ninety-five theses, 



1 86 



A GREAT STIR IN Til /s CHURCH. 



or reasons against indulgences, which he declared 
he was reach' to maintain in disputation. 

This was the beginning of the great strife which 
speedily involved all Western Christendom. 




LUTHER. 

(From a Miniature by Lucas von Cranach.) 

But this was not all. Luther propounded a new 
doctrine, which was like a little packet of dynamite : 
wherever it was dropped it blew to pieces the 
whole structure of Catholicism. You will never 
really understand what the Reformation was unless 
you get hold of this. 

Hitherto, the Catholic Church had taught that no 



JUS 7 YFICA TION B Y FA I TIL j 8 7 

man could be certain of pardon for his sins, of be- 
ing justified before God, and of eternal salvation. 
Everything was conditional. A man was pardoned 
his sins if he was truly sorry, if he confessed them, 
and if he did his utmost to make amends for the 
wrong done. Justification was the becoming per- 
fectly good and pleasing to God, and man was to aim 
at this all through life, with hard struggle, helped 
by divine grace, and the sacraments were the 
means whereby divine help was given him to push 
on to perfection. So this, also, was conditional. 
Lastly, salvation was certain to none without final 
perseverance. Now, Martin Luther was a very 
eager, anxious-minded man, and he could not be 
happy unless he were quite certain of pardon, justi- 
fication, and salvation. He suffered great distress 
of mind, through fear of falling short and losing 
heaven, knowing himself to be a man of violent 
passions. All at once a new idea struck him, which 
made all easy and secure. If a man felt that he 
was pardoned, justified, and saved, then the certain- 
ty was his. To this feeling of assurance that all 
was right he gave the name of faith, and called the 
change from a state of uncertainty to one of confi- 
dence, — justification by faith. No more condi- 
tions were required, no more chance of fall re- 
mained. This doctrine made immense way ; it was 
seized with eagerness. Of course it did away, in- 
evitably, with sacraments and with the priesthood, 
for help is no more needed by those who are secure; 
but Luther did not follow this to its legitimate con- 
clusion. If sacraments and priests were no more 



jSS a great stir in the church. 

needed then bishops were also unnecessary; and 
here the very thing was found which would enable 
the Germans to get rid of the bishops. That 
the bishops were of any good might well be doubted 
in Germany, where they lived in royal state, and 
neglected their spiritual duties or devolved them on 
others. If ever you go up the Rhine, look into the 
Cathedral of Mainz. There, along the red sand- 
stone pillars, you will see the monuments of the 
dead archbishops. They are represented on them 
clothed in armour, with spurs on their heels, holding 
a sword in one hand and a shepherd's crook in the 
other. On their heads they wear mitres surrounded 
by crowns. These tombstones give you an idea 
of what the archbishops were, in reality : secular 
princes, at home on horseback, clad in mail, and 
with only so much of the religious character about 
them that they bore the title and wore the insignia 
of spiritual princes. Now the Germans, knowing 
bishops such as these, only said with reason, What 
a farce this is ! These men are not pastors over 
their flocks, they are kings masquerading as bishops. 
Away with them ! We have too many sovereigns 
already in Germany ! 



XXXII. 

WALLED CITIES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE. 

It was only about the beginning of the 15th cent- 
ury that the cities of Germany rose to great im- 
portance, and became remarkable for their stately 
buildings, for their wealth and influence. 

They were all enclosed within walls, with a moat 
surrounding the walls. At intervals in the ring 
were towers of various shapes. Indeed, the fancy 
was indulged of making all different, so as to add to 
the beauty of the appearance of the town. Very 
few of the great German towns remain walled in 
with their towers, but some have these ornaments 
intact. Ratisbon had fifteen towers, variously 
capped, making the distant view of the city a vision 
of beauty. All have been pulled down but one. 

At the beginning of the 13th century the houses 
were all built of wood and plaster, and thatched 
with straw. But such fires ensued, consuming large 
parts of the towns, that the inhabitants were driven 
to build of better material, and to use tile or slate 
instead of thatch. Nevertheless, a good many old 
timber and plaster houses remain. Indeed, even the 
castles were only partly built of stone; they were to 
a large extent composed of buildings of more per- 
ishable material. A little way up a tributary of the 

189 



190 



WALLED CITIES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE. 



Moselle is an old castle, Schloss Elz. It is one of 
the few castles that has escaped being destroyed. 
IHias its tower of stone and walls of stone, but the 
principal buildings for the inmates, hall of banquet 




A GERMAN CITY IN I5TH CENTURY. 
(From a Pencil Sketch in the Library at Erlangen). 

and bedrooms, are of black timber with plaster fill- 
ings. 

At first, in the towns, only the churches and town- 
halls and other public buildings were of stone, but 
in the beginning of the 15th century the patricians — 



HOW GERMANS FORMERLY LIVED. 



191 



that is, the ruling families and merchants, who were 
very wealthy — began to build themselves handsome 
stone houses. Even in such an important place as 
Frankfort-on-the-Main nearly all the houses, down 
to the end of the 14th century, were of combustible 
materials, and were without chimneys, the smoke 
escaping through a hole in the roof. The streets of 
Paris were paved in 1185, Dut though some at- 
tempts at paving were made in Germany in the 13th 
and 14th centuries, it was not till later that they 
were systematically paved. Passengers picked 
their way in the mud as best they might. In the 
life of S. Elizabeth, the Landgravine of Hungary, we 
read of how, as she was thus trying to get along a 
street in Eisenach, a rude woman pushed her off 
the stepping-stone on which she had lighted, and 
she fell down into the black slough and was 
splashed from head to foot. 

There were not many windows filled with glass 
before the 15th century. Even at Zurich, where 
the town-hall was built in 1402, the windows were 
filled with oiled linen strained to frames. In Zurich 
the first fountain was erected in 1430, and this is 
about the date of most of the fountains that deco- 
rate so many of the German towns. The houses in 
the towns were very different in plan from old 
English houses. Let me tell you what I saw one 
summer's day at Villingen, in the Black Forest. 
This is a walled town, the walls nearly perfect, with 
all the towers standing, but with the water let out 
of the moat, which is turned into gardens. When 
I visited the place it was at the time of hay har- 



ig 2 WALLED CITIES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE. 

vest, and wains laden with hay were coming into the 
town. The old houses have very steep roofs, and 
the gables are towards the street, with a large door 
in the attic, and a crane over it. The chain from 
this contrivance was run down and the bundles of 
hay were raised and piled up in the garret of the 
house, which served as a great hay store. Later, 
the corn would be brought in, and the flax, and 
stored away in the same place. The roof of the 
house formed the barn. Then the cows and horses 
were driven into the ground floor rooms — they were 
really stables, vaulted with stone, and to enter the 
house where the people lived one had to ascend steps. 
As the citizens of a small town were landowners and 
farmers they thus made their houses compact farm 
dwellings. That was how they managed in small 
towns. In large cities they used the roof for stores 
of merchandise and the basement for shops. 
When you ascend the stairs you find in these old 
houses that there is a great deal of room given up 
to passage, and that this passage is paved, and 
sometimes vaulted. It served as a place for the 
children to play in wet weather, and meals were 
also taken in it when the company was large. 
These corridors are called Laubcn. The rooms 
open out of these corridors and are comparatively 
small. In old times, before fire-engines were in- 
vented, the only way by which fires could be ex- 
tinguished was with pails. The first fire brigade 
was established at Frankfort in 1439, an d tne mst 
fire-engine used at Augsburg in 15 18. 

We have many accounts from the 15th century 



SPLENDOUR OF GERMAN CITIES. 



193 



of the social and architectural condition of the 
German towns. Nuremberg especially was regarded 
as the ideal of a beautiful mediaeval town, and to the 
present day, with its stepped gables, solar windows, 
corner turrets, and rich sculpture, it retains more 
of its mediaeval character than any other town. 
Italians, however, declared that a more beautiful 
city than Cologne could not be found, a verdict we 
in the present day would be far from endorsing. It 
is now a collection of hideous and vulgar houses 
surrounding many preciously beautiful churches. 
The illustrious Frenchman, Montaigne, declared 
that Augsburg was more lovely than Paris. ^Eneas 
Silvius Piccolomini (afterwards Pope Pius II.) could 
not find terms in which to praise the wealth and 
splendour of the German cities. There is some exag- 
geration when he says, " Where is a German inn at 
which silver plate is not used ? What citizen woman 
— not necessarily noble — does not adorn herself with 
gold ornaments?" Of Vienna he says : " The town 
lies in a crescent on the Danube ; the city wall is 
5000 paces long and has double fortifications. The 
town proper lies like a palace in the centre of the 
suburbs, several of which rival it in beauty and size. 
Nearly every house has something to show, some- 
thing remarkable in or about it. Each dwelling 
has its back court and front court, large halls and 
smaller, good winter apartments. The guest-rooms 
are beautifully panelled, richly furnished, and 
warmed with stoves. All windows are glazed ; 
some have painted glass, and have iron-work guards 
aga^ist thieves. On the basement are large cellars 



194 



} WILLED CITIES AND THEIR IMPORTAXCE. 



and vaults, which are devoted to apothecaries, ware- 
houses, shops, and lodgings for strangers. In the 
halls many tame birds are kept, so that in passing 
through the streets one hears the sounds of a green 
pleasant forest. The market places and streets 
teem with life. Without reckoning the children and 
those under age there are 50,000 inhabitants and 
7000 students. Enormous is the commerce of 
traders, and enormous the sums of money here 
earned and spent. The whole district round Vi- 
enna is like one vast and beautiful garden covered 
with grapes and apples, and studded with the most 
charming countiy houses." 

There is, however, another side to the picture. 
yEneas Silvius says : " By night and by day there is 
fighting in the streets. Sometimes the artisans are 
assailing the students, sometimes the court people 
are quarrelling with the citizens, and sometimes it is 
citizen who has sword drawn against citizen. A 
festival rarely concludes without bloodshed." 

You have heard how poetry and romance flour- 
ished with the nobles. The citizens did not cul- 
tivate these arts, they were too practical ; but they 
produced chronicles, and some of them were in 
verse. For instance, Gottfried Hagen, of Cologne, 
wrote a rhymed history of his city between 1250- 
1270. Many of the large towns of Germany pro- 
duced their chroniclers, and it is needless to say of 
what importance their writings are to the historian. 

But if the cities did not cultivate poetry they 
nursed music. They all had their master-singer 
guilds, and on Sunday afternoons the performers 



SCHOOL SINGING. jq^ 

sang in the town-hall or the churches. Prizes were 
given for the best compositions. The highest prize 
was a representation of King David playing on the 
harp, stamped on a gold slate. The others consisted 
of wreaths of filigree wire of gold or silver. This 
performance was called " school singing." The last 
performance at Nuremberg was in 1770, and the 
very last of all at Ulm in 1839. 




XXXIII. 



HIGH GERMAN AND LOW. 



GERMANY is not divided by great rivers. It has, 
indeed, two main arteries, the Rhine and the Danube, 
the former flowing north, then west into the Ger- 
man Ocean, the latter flowing east into the Black Sea. 
The Rhine is a great main artery of trade, and 
always has been since Germany was civilized, from 
Mannheim to the mouth. Above Mannheim the 
river is too rapid and too full of shifting rubble-beds 
to be safeh* navigated. The Danube is only navi- 
gable below Linz. Above, it rushes at a pace so 
headlong that boats can be drawn against the stream 
only with infinite labour. If you travel up or down 
the Rhine you pass numerous villages and towns ; 
but the Danube, between Passau and Linz, runs 
between great wooded hills, where scarce a village 
spire, hardly a castle is to be seen. The Danube 
and the Rhine, though their sources are not so very 
far apart, and though the violence of their streams 
is considerable, were not connecting links of trade. 
Trade passed along roads rather than rivers, and 
the difficulty of navigation in the higher courses of 
the two great rivers did not tend to bring the peo- 
ples seated about them into commercial, social, and 
political unity. 

196 






PHYSICAL DIVISION. 



197 



Germany is physically divided into two great 
sections, determined by elevation. If you had a 
raised map of Germany, marking the hills and 
plains, you would see that all the North of the coun- 
try is one vast flat, and that the South is ele- 
vated. To the south are numerous chains of 
mountains, or rather hills, and between these chains 
are elevated plateaus. The hill country of Germany 
is richer than the plain country. The latter is 
mostly sandy, pebbly, boggy land. Moreover, the 
South is more blessed with a bright sky. All over 
the flat North land fogs from the cold Baltic Sea roll 
and form a grey canopy. The dreary plain, the dull 
sky, the ungrateful soil have combined to make the 
North German less cheerful than the German of the 
South. Moreover, the conquering Saxons of the 
Northern plains found them peopled by plodding, 
sad, Sclavonic races. There is a certain difference 
in characteristic, therefore, between the German of 
the high land and the German of the low land. 
Moreover, there is a difference in dialect. The low 
land German is called Platt-Deutsch, — that is, flat 
or Low-Dutch, — and the high land German is called 
Hoch-Deutsch, or High-Dutch. Dutch is Deutsch, 
that is, German. We call the inhabitants of Hol- 
land Dutch, but they belong only to the Low Ger- 
man race, and have no proper exclusive claim to 
that designation. 

In mediaeval times the literature was both high 
and low, according as the author of a book was a 
High German or a Low German ; but now-a-days 
the literary and spoken language of the nation is 



I9S 



HIGH GERM AX AXD LOW. 



High German. This came about, to a great extent, 
through Luther's having been a High German, and 
having translated the Bible into High German. 
There were earlier translations of the Bible than 
that of Luther. For instance, there was one by a 
monk of Halle, Martin Von Beheim, a very good 
translation, which no doubt formed the ground-work 
of Luther's more modern version. But the Refor- 
mation caused the Bible to be much more read 
than previously, and its language became familiar in 
even- household in Protestant Germany ; and this 
gave an immense advantage to High German. 
Moreover, at the period when German literature 
was taking its definite and final cast, the greatest 
writers issued from South Germany, so that now 
High German is alone recognized as the literary 
language. 

In England there are many dialects, but no sin- 
gle dialect has, in like manner, imposed on the rest 
and become the literary tongue. The court and 
aristocracy in England have, ever since the court 
was Norman, had their own peculiar dialect. The 
dialect of English culture, and the literary language 
of the English people, is the language of the upper 
class of society ; whereas, in Germany, it is the lan- 
guage of the upper elevation of the soil which has 
mastered all classes, and made court and aristoc- 
racy submit to speak and read in it as the sole dia- 
lect which is allowed to be regarded as literary. 



HjSkfHHH**^^ 










&!'« 


^jjSBfl 


gwjffi'^SK^lSfi 


WN^T^eft n««^*^L 






^./>^rftL 


kv 








fefffefai ■ "V '-^rdJBBfi ')t 


aggPj^ 


sx^Yrtjj 


feSsriSSSai 







XXXIV. 



A MIGHTY EMPEROR. 



( I 5 I 9~ I 555-) 

CHARLES V., the grandson of Maximilian I., was 
the mightiest of the emperors since Charles the 
Great. He reigned over more lands than any other 
prince in Christendom. He was King of Spain, 
Naples, Sicily, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and the 
Netherlands. In the New World the colonies there 
established looked to him as their sovereign, so that 
it may be said that his empire was one on which the 
sun never set. Yet his career was not a happy one. 
His life was spent in fighting the King of France, 
and the Pope, and the Protestant princes of Ger- 
many. He was not fond of splendour; he had not 
the beauty of Maximilian, but he was a fine man, 
with dignity in his bearing. He had the long lower 
lip and underhung jaw of the Hapsburgs. His 
character was cold, and his demeanour grave. He 
had a ready insight into men's characters, and, as 
Prescott says, " to the end of his reign he employed 
no general in the field, no minister in the cabinet, 
no ambassador to a foreign court, no governor of 
a province whose abilities were inadequate to the 
trust which he imposed on them. He placed un- 

199 




: : -~ • - " 



FERDINAND I. 

(From an Engraving by Beham.) 



20 



THE POPE'S BULL. 201 

bounded confidence in his generals ; he rewarded 
their services with munificence ; he never envied 
their fame, nor discovered any jealousy of their 
power. There were, nevertheless, defects in his 
political character which must considerably abate 
the admiration due to his extraordinary talents. 
Charles' ambition was insatiable, and his desire of 
being distinguished as a conqueror involved him in 
continual wars, which not only exhausted and op- 
pressed his subjects, but left him little leisure for 
giving attention to the interior government and 
improvement of his kingdoms, the great objects of 
every prince who makes the happiness of his people 
the end of his government." On the death of Maxi- 
milian the Austrian territories fell to Charles and 
his brother Ferdinand conjointly ; but as Charles 
was occupied in Spain, in 152 1 he ceded to his 
brother Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and in 
the ensuing year Tyrol. By this cession the House 
of Austria was divided into two separate branches 
— the Spanish branch, under Charles ; and the Ger- 
man, under Ferdinand. 

In the mean time the split in the Church was wid- 
ening. Pope Leo X., in 1520, issued a bull — that is, 
a deed — whereby he excommunicated Luther, or cut 
him off from communion with the Catholic Church 
as a heretic ; and all Christian princes and states 
were warned against his doctrine, and exhorted to 
arrest him and put a stop to his teaching. 

One December morning, in the same year, Luther 
made a pile of wood outside the eastern gate of 
Wittenberg and burnt on it publicly the Pope's bull. 




\S"2,G e - 
IVENTlS -P O^VlT-DVRERIVS i ORA'PHILiPPl , 

TWENTEAV'NON -P OTviT*PlNGEKE."-DO CTA 



MELANCTHON. 

(From a painting by Durer.) 



202 



DIE T OF WORMS. 



203 



Next day he mounted the pulpit and said, "The 
burning of yesterday was a matter of little import- 
ance ; better were it had the fire consumed the 
Pope, or rather the See of Rome." 

To put a term to the agitation of spirits Charles 
V. called together a diet, or assembly of the states, 
at Worms. It met on January 6, 1521. Luther 
was cited to appear at it, and the states* prepared a 
long list of grievances against the Papacy, which 
they required the emperor to redress. 

Luther's journey to Worms was like a triumphal 
procession. Crowds assembled to see and cheer 
him ; on his arrival at Worms his apartments were 
thronged by persons of the highest rank. 

When he appeared before the diet he absolutely 
refused to recant his opinions. Charles found that 
many of the princes, notably the electors of Saxony 
and of the Rhenish Palatinate, favored him. He 
was compelled to wait till the latter had withdrawn 
from the diet before he could pass an edict against 
Luther, placing him under the ban of the empire. 
As Charles had given him a promise of safe-con- 
duct he was dismissed unmolested, with an imperial 
guard to protect him. As soon as Luther had sent 
back the officer, he was taken charge of by some 
masked horsemen, sent by his friend and supporter, 
the Elector of Saxony, who carried him to the cas- 
tle of Wartburg, where he remained nine months 
in concealment. 

Whilst there, a disciple of his, called Carlstadt, 
headed a mob of people and broke into the churches 
of Wittenberg, where they tore down the altars and 



2Q . A MIGHTY EMPEROR. 

destroyed the crucifixes and statues. This was go- 
ing much further than Luther approved, so he left 
his place of hiding and suddenly appeared at Wit- 
tenberg to stop the disorder. 

The princes now began to lay their hands on the 
church property. They turned out the monks and 
nuns and seized on their lands. They carried off the 
<rold and silver vessels from the churches and melted 
them into coin to relieve their own necessities. The 
Margrave of Brandenburg was Grand Master of the 
Teutonic Knights. This was an order of warrior- 
churchmen, which had been instituted to hold the 
frontier against the heathen Sclavs. They had con- 
quered Prussia, and ruled it like princes. The mar- 
grave took advantage of his position to make him- 
self sovereign over Prussia, and annex the posses- 
sions of the order to his family. 

After the holding of the diet of Worms Charles 
had gone back to Spain, and in his absence there 
was no one to enforce the edict against Luther. 
Indeed, Luther had far too many protectors for the 
emperor to have enforced it, had he been in Ger- 
many in person. 




HS~S 


kN^^^fl ItUK^V^ 


52!\ii^ 




fcv ^ 




Kg! as ' >8v BoB 




^TBl\V^ A "* 










Ifi^fc ■ ' " /> ^*ffll Kf ')k 




jjl^^y'^jx 1 







XXXV. 

HOW THE PEASANTS WAKED UP. 
(1524-1526.) 

The peasants were influenced by the new ideas, 
and as they suffered under grievous wrongs they 
rose in revolt over the whole of Germany. The 
entire burden of taxation fell on them. You may 
see in farmhouses in Germany a curious picture, 
which represents a triangle of steps, resting on the 
back of a farmer who ploughs. At the top of the 
pyramid sits the emperor, and from his mouth 
proceeds the sentence, " All there sustain me." On 
a step below is a soldier, saying, " I am paid to 
fight"; on another, a lawyer, saying, "I plunder 
all alike " ; on another, a parson, with the legend, 
" I live on the tithe " ; on another, the noble, say- 
ing, " I pay no taxes " ; and below, the peasant 
groans, " All these are sustained by me." So it was. 
The gentleman paid no taxes. All the burden was 
on the farmer, or peasant — the German term is 
baner. When the Reformation began to make 
way in Germany the peasants came out in swarms, 
armed with pitchforks, scythes, and flails, with 
the double intention of abolishing Catholicism and 
the feudal system. This latter was turned into a 

205 



206 HOW THE PEASANTS WAKED IT. 

system of cruel oppression. The bauers were 
mulcted of their time, their produce, and their 
money, and were treated little better than slaves.* 
Their wrongs were very real and very grievous. 

The first outbreak of the peasants arose out of 
a very small matter. The Countess of Lupfen or- 
dered the peasants on her estates to spend the 
Sundays in summer in gathering strawberries for 
her table, and snail-shells for making ornamental 
pin-cushions. They refused to do so, and in a few 
days the country round was in arms. In a short 
time the insurrection extended through the South 
and East of Germany; it spread along the Main, 
the Rhine, the Danube. The peasants of the 
Odenwald rose to a man. Franconia was in a blaze, 
the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order was 
driven from his domains. Towns were threat- 
ened, and threw open their gates. The Palatinate 
was in insurrection ; so were Hesse and Thuringia. 
The mountaineers of Styria, of the Tyrol, of Salzburg 
were in arms. Austria was in commotion. The 
peasants of Bavaria alone remained unstirred. The 
insurgent farmers called themselves " the Chris- 
tian Army," or "the Gospel Brotherhood." They 
burned the castles and monasteries, and plundered 
the churches. You will see everywhere in Ger- 
many, especially in the South, ruined castles, and if 
you ask when they were ruined, you will receive 



* Instead of paying rents in money for their farms, they mostly 
paid by supplying farm produce, and giving free labor to their 
landlords. 



TAKING OF WEINSBERG. 2 OJ 

the almost invariable answer, " In the Peasants' 

War." 

You shall hear of the taking of one little town 
by the peasants, the town of Weinsberg, as an ex- 
ample of the scenes which were enacted through 
the land. Weinsberg was under the command of 
the Count of Helfenstein. who had married a 
daughter of the Emperor Maximilian. 

On Easter morning, 1525, a black wave of peas- 
ants appeared rolling down the hill sides upon the 
town, and speedily surrounded it. They were 
under the command of two men, Florian Geyer 
and Little Jack (Jacklein Rohsbacker). As their 
standard, they carried a pole with a shoe on top 
of it. Before the host hovered a black-draped 
hag, screaming her incantations, to make the rebels 
invulnerable. This was the " Black Hoffmann," 
a witch possessing great influence over the minds 
of the peasants. When they surrounded the walls 
they summoned the place to surrender. •" Open 
your gates," they shouted, " or you shall all be 
put to the edge of the sword. Every person and 
thing will be burnt or killed." A shower of bullets 
was the reply. Soon, however, the peasants 
swarmed over the walls, and the count and the 
soldiers retired to the castle, whilst the citizens 
fled to the church. They were unable to hold out. 
The garrison offered to surrender if their lives 
were spared, and promised to pay a ransom. "A 
ton of gold would not suffice," was the answer, 
" we want your flesh." The soldiers were butch- 
ered. One was ordered to jump from the top of 



208 



J/OW THE PEASAXTS WAKED UP. 



the tower on the lances and pitchforks below. 
" I would rather jump up than jump down," he 
answered. This elicited a roar of laughter and his 




THREE PEASANTS, l6lTI CENTURY. (DURER.) 

life was spared. The insurgents stood in two rows, 
armed with scythes, swords, and pitchforks, forming 
a lane, and the prisoners were ordered to run down 
this lane, to be hacked to pieces by the weapons. 
" Count Louis of Helfenstein, " said Little Jack, 



SEVERE DOINGS. 



2CX) 



" you shall open the dance." At that moment the 
countess, with her babe in her arms, burst through 
the crowd and flung herself at the feet of the cap- 
tain, imploring pardon for her husband. " Friends," 
shouted Little Jack, " look at me, how I treat the 
daughter of an emperor." He threw her down and 
knelt on her breast. Then a peasant, standing by, 
threw his sword at her, and wounded the babe, 
whose blood spirted over its mother's face. Then 
Little Jack ordered the men to raise and hold up 
the countess, and force her to see the murder of her 
husband. He also commanded a fiddler to strike 
up a dance tune and go before the count, capering 
down the lane. Count Helfenstein had not gone 
far before he fell ; then the Black Hoffmann, the 
witch, rushed after him, and literally tore him to 
pieces with her hands. Then a cart was heaped 
with dung, and the poor countess, hugging her 
bleeding babe, was mounted on it, and so driven 
away, among the jeers and yells of the insurgents. 
The peasants, finding that the princes were arm- 
ing against them, gave the command of their host 
to a notorious robber-knight, Goetz with the Iron 
Hand ; but the host was quite undisciplined, and 
when they had plundered a castle or a town, or an 
abbey, hastened home with their booty. The 
Truchsess (steward) of Waldburg marched at the 
head of an army against the rebels and succeeded 
in defeating them. Other princes also met them 
and routed them, and at last the insurrection was 
put down ; but it was subdued with great and un- 
necessary severity. The poor peasants had been 



2IO 



110 IV THE PEASANTS WAKED UP. 



driven to rebellion by their wrongs, and the only 
idea their victors had was to re-rivet the chains they 
had struggled to cast off. Even Luther wrote a 
pamphlet against them, calling on the princes " to 
strangle and stab them, as a man would treat a mad 
dog." 




--s-=S*fVC 



LUTHER AND MELANCTHON. 

(From a painting by Cranach.) 



XXXVI. 

THE SAD FATE OF BERNARD KNIPPERDOLLING. 

( I 5 2 4-i53 6 

I MUST now tell you of an extraordinary event 
that took place in Westphalia. There is a grand 
opera by Meyerbeer, " The Prophet," founded upon 
it, the overture and the grand march in which 
you are sure to know, as they are favorite instru- 
mental concerted pieces. Meyerbeer has not stuck 
to historical truth in his opera ; what the real facts 
were you shall now be told. 

Miinster is a town in Westphalia, the seat of a 
bishop, walled round, with a noble cathedral and 
many churches ; but there is one peculiarity about 
Miinster that distinguishes it from all other old 
German towns ; it has not one old church spire in it. 
Once it had a great many. How comes it that it 
now has none ? 

In Miinster lived a draper, Knipperdolling by 
name, who was much excited over the doctrines of 
Luther, and he gathered many people in his house, 
and spoke to them bitter words against the Pope, 
the bishops, and the clergy. The bishop at this 
time was Francis of Waldeck, a man much inclined 
himself to Lutheranism ; indeed, later, he proposed 

211 



2I 2 THE FATE OF BERNARD KXirPERDOLUNG. 



to suppress Catholicism in the diocese, as he wanted 
to seize on it and appropriate it as a possession to 
his family. Moreover, in 1 544, he joined the Protest- 
ant princes in a league against the Catholics ; but 
he did not want things to move too fast, lest he 




SCHOOL-ROOM IN l6TH CENTURY. 
(From a wood-cut by Hans Leonard Schauffelin.) 

should not be able to secure the wealthy See as 
personal property. 

Knipperdolling got a young priest, named Rott- 
mann, to preach in one of the churches against the 
errors of Catholicism, and he was a man of such 
fiery eloquence that he stirred up a mob, which 
rushed through the town, wrecking the churches. 
The mob became daily more daring and threatening. 
They drove the priests out of the town, and some of 
the wealthy citizens fled, not knowing what would 
follow. The bishop would have yielded to all the 



ENOCH AND EL/AS. 



213 



religious innovations if the rioters had not threat- 
ened his temporal position and revenue. In 1532 
the pastor, Rottmann, began to preach against the 
baptism of infants. Luther wrote to him remon- 
strating, but in vain. The bishop was not in the 
town ; he was at Minden, of which See he was 
bishop as well. 

Finding that the town was in the hands of Knip- 
perdolling and Rottmann, who were confiscating the 
goods of the churches, and excluding those who 
would not agree with their opinions, the bishop ad- 
vanced to the place at the head of some soldiers. 
Miinster closed its gates against him. Negotiations 
were entered into ; the Landgrave of Hesse was 
called in as pacificator, and articles of agreement 
were drawn up and signed. Some of the churches 
were given up to the Lutherans, but the cathedral 
was reserved for the Catholics, and the Lutherans 
were forbidden to molest the latter, and disturb 
their religious services. 

The news of the conversion of the city of Miinster 
to the Gospel spread, and strangers came to it from 
all parts. Among these was a tailor of Leyden, 
called John Bockelson. Rottmann now threw up 
his Lutheranism and proclaimed himself opposed to 
many of the doctrineswhich Luther still retained. 
Amongst other things he rejected was infant bap- 
tism. This created a split among the reformed in 
Miinster, and the disorders broke out afresh. The 
mob now fell on the cathedral and drove the Cath- 
olics from it, and would not permit them to worship 
in it. They also invaded the Lutheran churches, 



214 



FATE OF BERNARD KX1PPERD0LLIXG. 



and filled them with uproar. On the evening of 
January 28, 1534, the Anabaptists stretched chains 
across the streets, assembled in armed bands, closed 
the gates and placed sentinels in all directions. 
When day dawned there appeared suddenly two 
men dressed like Prophets, with long, ragged beards 
and flowing mantles, staff in hand, who paced 
through the streets solemnly in the midst of the 
crowd, who bowed before them and saluted them as 
Enoch and Elias. These men were John Bockelson, 
the tailor, and one John Mattheson, head of the Ana- 
baptists of Holland. Knipperdolling at once asso- 
ciated himself with them, and shortly the place 
was a scene of the wildest ecstacies. Men and 
women ran about the streets screaming and leap- 
ing, and crying out that they saw visions of angels 
with swords drawn urging them on to the extermi- 
nation of Lutherans and Catholics alike. Many 
Lutherans and Catholics, frightened, fearing a gen- 
eral massacre, fled the town. Mattheson mounted a 
pulpit, and cried out that Heaven demanded the 
purification of Zion, and that all who did not hold 
the right faith should be put to the sword. This 
would have been carried into effect but for the in- 
tervention of Knipperdolling, who persuaded the 
rabble not to kill, but to expel those who refused 
to be re-baptized. Accordingly, a great number of 
citizens were driven out, on a bitter day, when the 
land was covered with snow. Those who lagged 
were beaten ; those who were sick were carried to 
the market-place and re-baptized by Rottmann. 
" Never," says a witness, " did I see anything 



RULE OF MUNSTER B Y FAN A TICS. 2 I 5 

more afflicting. The women carried their naked 
babes in their arms, and in vain sought rags where- 
with to cover them ; miserable children ran bare- 
footed, hanging to their father's coats, uttering 
piercing cries ; old people, bent with age, and sick 
women, tottered and fell in the snow." 

This was too much to be borne. The bishop 
raised an army and marched against the city. Thus 
began a siege which was to last sixteen months, dur- 
ing which a multitude of untrained fanatics, com- 
manded by a Dutch tailor, held out against a numer- 
ous and well-armed force. 

Thenceforth the city was ruled by divine revela- 
tions, or rather, by the crazes of the diseased brains 
of the prophets. One day they declared that all 
the officers and magistrates were to be turned out 
of their offices, and men nominated by themselves 
were to take their places ; another day Mattheson 
said it was revealed to him that every book in the 
town except the Bible was to be destroyed ; accord- 
ingly all the archives and libraries were collected 
in the market-place and burnt. Then it was re- 
vealed to him that all the spires were to be pulled 
down ; so the church towers were reduced to stumps, 
from which the enemy could be watched and whence 
cannon could play on them. One day he declared 
he had been ordered by Heaven to go forth, with 
promise of victory, against the besiegers. He 
dashed forth at the head of a large band, but was 
surrounded and he and his band slain. 

The death of Mattheson struck dismay into the 
hearts of the Anabaptists, but John Bockelson took 




- 1(. 



B CKELSON 'S RE VELA Tl 'ON. 2 1 7 

advantage of the moment to establish himself as 
head. He declared that it was revealed to him 
that Mattheson had been killed because he had 
disobeye'd the heavenly command, which was to 
go forth with few. Instead of that he had gone 
with many. Bockelson said he had been or- - 
dered in vision to marry Mattheson's widow and 
assume his place. It was further revealed to 
him that Munster was to be the heavenly Zion, the 
capital of the earth, and he was to be king over it. 
Then he ordered all the people in the place to bring 
him every article of value they possessed, gold and 
silver and jewelry ; also all provisions they had, and 
he arranged that all meals should be taken in com- 
mon. Then he had another revelation that every 
man was to have as many wives as he liked, and he 
gave himself sixteen wives. This was too out- 
rageous for some to endure, and a plot was formed 
against him by a blacksmith and about two hundred 
of the more respectable citizens, but it was frus- 
trated, and led to the seizure of the conspirators 
and the execution of a number of them. Twenty- 
five were shot and sixty-six were decapitated by 
Knipperdolling, whom John Bockelson had consti- 
tuted his executioner. With the death of these men 
disappeared every attempt at resistance. It may be 
asked how it was that there were still so many peo- 
ple in the place. The reason was that before it was 
invested Anabaptists had swarmed into it from Hol- 
land and the North of Germany, thinking it was a 
favoured city of Heaven. 

Next, Bockelson created twelve dukes, to whom 




woman's costume. i6th century. 
(From a painting by Holbein.) 



218 



HUNG IN CAGES. 



219 



he gave titles to as many parts of Germany. They 
were all tailors, shoemakers, coopers, and bakers. 
He also appointed twenty-seven apostles to go 
through Europe, converting people and calling on 
them to come to Zion. 

In the market-place a pulpit and a throne were 
erected, and thrice in the week Bockelson adminis- 
tered justice from the throne, clad in royal apparel, 
surrounded by his dukes and pages gorgeously 
dressed. When the court was over a sermon was 
preached from the pulpit, and when that was con- 
cluded, the king, his sixteen queens, the preacher, 
and the court danced to the strains of the royal 
band. 

One of his wives, disgusted with the profanity and 
her degradation, entreated leave to depart from the 
town. King John cut off her head with his own 
sword before all the people. One of the bishop's 
soldiers, having been taken prisoner, was urged to 
embrace the doctrines of the Anabaptists. He had 
the audacity to reply that whatever their doctrines 
might be their practice was devilish ; whereupon 
King John, foaming with rage, hacked off his head 
with his own hand. 

At last, on midsummer eve, 1536, after a siege of 
sixteen months, the city was taken. Several of the 
citizens, unable longer to endure the tyranny, cru- 
elty, and abominations committed by the king, 
helped the soldiers of the prince-bishop to climb 
the walls, open the gates, and surprise the city. A 
desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued ; the streets 
ran with blood. John Bockelson, instead of leading 



220 FATE OF BERNARD KNIPPERDOLLLWj. 

his people, hid himself, but was caught. So was 
Knipperdolling. 

When the place was in his hands the prince- 
bishop entered. John of Leyden and Knipperdol- 
ling were cruelly tortured, their flesh plucked off 
with red-hot pincers, and then a dagger was thrust 
into their hearts. Finally, their bodies were hung 
in iron cages to the tower of a church in Miinster. 

Thus ended this hideous drama, which produced 
an indescribable effect throughout Germany. Miin- 
ster, after this, in spite of the desire of the prince- 
bishop to establish Lutheranism, reverted to Ca- 
tholicism, and remains Catholic to this day. 






x^^^^ 


(""'^^^BfLfi? ^-t-4iBb JMJ ^flJLr- *" v Jl I 




^mS&B3& 





XXXVII. 

HOW THE PROTESTANTS PROTESTED. 

(1530-1547.) 

The Reformation, which had been successful in 
Germany, spread with equal rapidity in the neigh- 
boring countries. At Zurich was Zwingli, a man of 
more daring mind than Luther ; his equal in intre- 
pidity, and his superior in learning. He went much 
further than Luther, and completely overturned the 
whole fabric of established worship. As early as 
1524 the canton of Zurich renounced the supremacy 
of the Pope; and in 1528 Bern, Basle, and Schaff- 
hausen, and part of the Grisons, Glarus, and Appen- 
zel, followed the example. In Geneva Calvin took 
another line from Luther. He did not accept his 
doctrine of free justification, but he taught that 
some men were predestined to eternal life and oth- 
ers to eternal damnation ; that the former could not 
fall away, and that nothing that the latter did could 
gain them heaven. Luther and Calvin looked on 
each other with great hostility. In some parts of 
Germany Calvinism spread, in other parts Luther- 
anism. The Lutherans were called Protestants, 
and the Calvinists were called Reformed. The 
name of Protestant was thus acquired : 

221 



222 HOW THE PROTESTANTS PROTESTED. 

Charles V. summoned a diet (that is, a parliament 
of the states) to meet at Spires in 1529, to. discuss 
the means of resisting and driving back the Turks, 
who had overrun Hungary, and threatened the 
Austrian dominions ; and also to settle something, 
relative to the religious contests. By a majority of 
voices a decree was passed which" forbade further 
innovation in religion, and ordered that the Catholic 
subjects of Protestant princes should be allowed to 
exercise their religion in freedom ; that no hostilities 
were to be committed under pretence of religion, 
and that the ministers of the Gospel were to preach 
the word of God according to the interpretation of 
the Church, and to abstain from ridiculing and abus- 
ing the doctrines hitherto held as sacred. The 
Lutherans, upon this, drew up a protest, which they 
delivered to the diet. They argued that Protestant 
princes could not tolerate the exercise of a religion 
in their lands which they held to be against God's 
word, and that the ministers could not follow the 
interpretation of the Church, which they regarded 
as antichristian. 

This protest was signed by the Elector of Saxony, 
the Margrave of Brandenburg — Anspach, the duke 
of Brunswick, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the 
Prince of Anhalt, and fourteen free imperial cities. 
It is from this protest that the Lutherans acquired 
the name of Protestants, which has since been applied 
to all who separated from the Church of Rome. 

Charles V. made many efforts to pacify the strife 
without coming to severe measures. He called to- 
gether another diet, to meet at Augsburg in 1530. 



THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION. 



227, 



At the very opening of the diet, evidence appeared 
of the uncompromising character of the Protestants. 
The parliament began with a mass, attended by the 
emperor and his high functionaries. The Elector 
of Saxony was grand marshall and bore the sword 
of state. At first he refused to attend, and was 
only persuaded by one of the Lutheran pastors, who 
reminded him that the prophet Elisha permitted 
Naaman to bow himself in the house of Rimmon. 
However, though he and the Landgrave of Hesse 
attended, they refused to kneel, and remained stand- 
ing upright whilst the whole congregation was bowed. 

When the diet began proceedings the Lutherans 
presented to it a formulary of their belief as far as 
they had settled it at the time. This was drawn 
up by Philip Melancthon, and goes by the name of 
the " Augsburg Confession." 

On November 16th Charles published a decree, 
insisting that all things should remain on their 
ancient footing till a council of the Church assembled, 
which was to be in six months' time ; and also order- 
ing the restoration of all the lands and buildings 
seized by the nobles and princes which had belonged 
to the Church. Charles gave the Protestants till 
April to consider, and if they then refused submis- 
sion he threatened them with the ban of the empire. 

Thereupon the Protestant princes assembled in the 
little Hessian town of Smalkald (December, 15 301 
and made a league with one another for mutual sup- 
port against the emperor. They also entered into 
a secret treaty with Francis I., King of France, and 
they received promises of help from the kings of 




JOHN FREDERICK THE HOED, EEECTOR OF SAXONY, 
^From portrait by Cranach.) 



224 



SUCCESS FOR THE IMPERIALISTS. 



225 



England, Sweden, and Denmark. Both parties pre- 
pared for war, and the imperial chamber commenced 
proceedings against the Protestant princes for the 
restitution of the ecclesiastical states they had con- 
fiscated. The heads of the league were the Elector, 
John Frederick of Saxony, a hearty supporter of 
Luther and a sincere man, and the Landgrave, Philip 
of Hesse, a man with two wives, and of bad charac- 
ter, whose reforming zeal sprang chiefly from greed 
after the spoils of the Church. 

In the year 1545 a council of the Church assem- 
bled at Trent, to correct the abuses in religion, 
but the Protestants would take no part in it. This 
opposition angered the emperor, and he prepared 
for hostilities. 

When the army of the Smalkald league marched 
against him he pronounced the ban of the empire 
against the leaders, that is, declared them outlaws, 
deprived of imperial protection and of their prin- 
cipalities. The confederates replied by a letter re- 
nouncing their allegiance, and refusing him' the 
imperial title. The Protestant princes were weak- 
ened by internal dissention and jealousies, and 
Charles found himself deserted by the Pope, who 
was, as usual, jealous of his power in Italy. Fran- 
cis I., of France, moreover, sent money to the Smal- 
kald union. Fortunately for Charles, Francis died, 
and when the league were least expecting his attack 
he hastened to assail their forces on the Elbe. He 
threw a bridge of boats over the river at Miihlberg, 
though the enemy occupied the highest bank, and 
the river was three hundred paces wide. Whilst 



226 HO IV THE PROTESTANTS PROTESTED. 

his bridge was being constructed he suddenly 
crossed the river by a ford, at the head of his cavalry, 
in a fog which concealed his movements, and burst 
on the Protestant army at the same moment that 
a light wind dispersed the vapors and the sun 
blazed out. The battle that ensued ended in 
the success of the Imperialists. John Frederick, 
Elector of Saxony, was wounded in the face and 
taken prisoner. When brought before Charles he 
bowed to kiss his hand, saying, " Most powerful and 
gracious emperor, the fortunes of war have rendered 
me your prisoner — " " Hah ! " exclaimed Charles, 
"nozv you entitle me emperor, the other day you 
styled me Charles of Ghent." 

Charles then made his triumphal entry into Wit- 
tenberg, and conducted himself with great mag- 
nanimity. The elector was deprived of all his 
dominions except Gotha, and they were given to 
Maurice of Saxony. 

There were then two Saxon ducal houses, called 
the Ernestine and the Albertine, descended from 
two brothers, Ernest, who died in i486, and Albert, 
who died in 1500. These brothers had divided the 
paternal inheritance between them. The Ernestine 
dukes retained the title of electors of Saxony, the 
Albertine dukes were called dukes of Saxony. 
John Frederick, who was deposed after the battle of 
Miihlberg, was the grandson of Ernest, and Mau- 
rice of Saxony was grandson of Albert. 

Maurice was a very craft}' man. He had quarrelled 
a good deal with John Frederick, as his dominions 
were intermixed with those of the elector, and as he 



THE REVOL T OF MA URICE. 22J 

possessed a joint share in some rich mines. When 
the Smalkald union was formed he refused to join it, 
though he was a Protestant, and he courted the 

o 

favour of the emperor without vigorously fighting 
for him. In return for his loyalty Charles now gave 
him the electorate of Saxony, with the lands from 
which John Frederick had been ousted. This was 
what Maurice had been aiming after. No sooner 
had he got all he wanted from the emperor than he 
turned against him, and became his most bitter and 
dangerous opponent. 

Charles gave him occasion. The Landgrave of 
Hesse had given himself up and been imprisoned, 
when he found himself deserted and powerless. 
Charles, it is said, had sent him private assurance 
that he would be set free if he made his submission, 
but Charles still kept him in confinement, and this 
angered Maurice, who had married the landgrave's 
daughter. 

When, as he supposed, the war was at an end, 
Charles retired to Innsbruck, and dismissed the 
army he had collected. Maurice now secretly made 
a league with Henry II., King of France, by which it 
was arranged that the French were to attack Lor- 
raine, and find Maurice a large monthly sum of 
money as long as he continued in arms against the 
emperor. At the same time he did all he could to 
throw dust in the eyes of Charles. He hired a 
house at Trent for his reception, and had it magnifi- 
cently furnished, and declared his intention of 
going to the council. Then, when all was ripe, and 
Charles lulled into unsuspicion, Maurice suddenly 



HOW THE PROTESTANTS PROTESTED. 

threw off the mask, uttered a proclamation, in 
which he declared that he took up arms in defence 
of Protestantism, to oppose the emperor becoming 
absolute monarch, and to release the landgrave. 




GERMAN PATRICIANS IN I55O. 
m a wood-cut by Ammann.) 



He swept at once through Bavaria, without suffer- 
ing the emperor time to collect an army against 
him. Xo words can express Chan >nishment 

and consternation at the revolt of Maurice. He saw 



PACIFICATION OF PASS A 17. 



229 



a great number of German princes in arms against 
him at a moment when he had despatched a large 
body of his troops into Hungary to resist the Turks. 
At the same time Henry II. invaded Lorraine, 
captured Toul, Verdun, and Metz, and threatened 
Strasburg. Augsburg surrendered to Maurice. 
Nuremberg joined the confederacy. 

Charles threw a few soldiers into Fuessen to 
guard the Scharnitz pass, but Maurice, advancing 
with rapid marches, dislodged them, advanced up 
the Lech valley, crossed into the Inn valley, and 
would have surprised and taken the emperor had 
he not made his escape in a litter — for he was ill 
at the time with gout — across the mountains, by 
roads almost impassable, in a dark and stormy 
night, only a few hours before Maurice entered 
Innsbruck. 

Maurice gave up the palace and property of the 
emperor at Innsbruck to pillage. 

Dismayed by this disaster, unable to gather to- 
gether an army to fight at once the Turks in Hun- 
gary, the French in Lorraine, and the Protestants in 
the midst of the empire, Charles was forced to 
come to an agreement with Maurice and the Prot- 
estant princes, which was concluded on the 2d of 
August, 1552, and this is called the ''Pacification of 
Passau." By it he agreed to release the landgrave, 
and to allow liberty to the Protestants in Catholic 
lands ; and the Protestants on their side agreed to 
allow Catholic worship to be performed for Catholics 
in their territories. When the agreement had been 
signed Maurice marched against the Turks, and 



2;o 



HOW THE PRO TESTA. YTS PROTESTED. 



Charles, anxious to wipe away his recent disgrace, 
collected an army and entered Lorraine. But for- 
tune had deserted him. He was unable to retake 
Metz, and in the Low Countries also his troops met 
with reverse. In Italy, moreover, his inveterate 
enemy, Pope Paul IV., joined with France in a 
league for the conquest of Naples. Paul was like 
the German prelates, a great prince as well as a 
prelate, and he cared more for his temporal 
power than for the welfare of the Church, Conse- 
quently, though Charles strove hard, and exhausted 
himself for the good of the Catholic religion in 
Germany, he was hampered and countermined by 
the Pope, who was jealous of his power. But for 
the Pope it is by no means improbable that Charles 
would have re-established Catholic supremacy 
through Germany. 

At last, sick at heart and failing in health, the 
great emperor resolved to lay down the crown that 
had been to him a burden through life. In 1555 
he gave up to his son, Philip II., the Netherlands, 
Naples, Spain, and the rich colonies of America. 
To his brother, Ferdinand I., who was already King 
of Bohemia and Hungary, he gave over the Ger- 
man-Austrian lands and the imperial title. Then 
he withdrew into the monastery of S. Just, in 
Spain, where he died, three years later. 

His death was brought about in a very strange 
way. He took it into his head that he would like 
to have his funeral sen-ice performed over him be- 
fore he was dead. He was dressed in a winding 
sheet and laid in a coffin, whilst his attendants, in 



DEA TH OF CHARLES V. 



23T 



deep mourning, holding tapers of unbleached wax, 
stood around him. The funeral service was said, 
and the hollow voice of the monarch was heard 
joining in the prayers from the coffin. But the 
grave-clothes were damp ; he caught a chill which 
produced fever, and hurried him to his grave on 
the 2 1st of September, 1558, in the fifty-ninth year 
of his age. 




XXXVIII. 



THIRTY YEARS OF WAR ABOUT RELIGION. 



(1618-1648.) 

Notwithstanding the Pacification of Passau 
and its subsequent ratification at a diet held at 
Augsburg in 1555, quarrels continued between the 
Catholics and Protestants, and between the Luther- 
ans and Calvinists, and even between discordant 
factions among the Lutherans themselves. In Sax- 
ony the Lutheran elector, Augustus, cruelly perse- 
cuted the Calvinists, and in the Palatinate the Cal- 
vinist prince expelled all the Lutherans, and cut off 
the head of a pastor who denied the doctrine of 
the Trinity. On his death his son, who was a vehe- 
ment Lutheran, called back the Evangelicals and 
ordered all the Calvinist ministers who refused to 
recant to be driven out of the country. 

In the mean time Alva, the Spanish governor of 
the Netherlands, was subjugating the Low Countries 
for Philip II. with great cruelty, and driving out 
the Calvinists. 

Gebhard of Waldburg had been elected Arch- 
bishop of Cologne. He fell desperately in love 
with a beautiful maiden, Agnes of Mansfeld, and 
turned Calvinist, and wanted to make the arch- 

232 



RUDOLPH II 



233 



bishopric the property of himself, to descend to his 
children by the beautiful Agnes, whom he married. 
But the people of Cologne were against him ; the 
Lutheran princes would not help him because he 
had turned Calvinist ; however, he got promise of 
help from the Palatine, and from the Dutch and 
French, and carried on a desultory war to obtain 
possession of Cologne. At last he was completely 
defeated, and retired to Strasburg. 

All the bishoprics in North Germany had been 
seized and annexed to their dominions by the princes 
of Brandenburg, Brunswick, Mecklenburg, and Sax- 
ony. In the hereditary possessions of the House of 
Hapsburg the Reformation was suppressed. The 
maxim had been formulated that as was the prince 
so should be the people, and so the princes every- 
where insisted on making their people believe, or 
disbelieve, or change about like themselves. 

Ferdinand I. and his son, Maximilian II., were 
gentle and good emperors, so that the general antag- 
onism did not break out into violent hostilities 
under them ; but it was otherwise when the gloomy 
Rudolph II. came to the throne. He was the son 
of Maximilian II. He was an apathetic man, ut- 
terly unsuited to govern, fond of horses, of which 
he kept a great many, though he never mounted 
their backs, and very fond of chemistry, and 
alchemy, which was then allied to chemistry. He 
had been educated in Spain, and the Protestants 
were alarmed at his appointment, fearing that he 
would use his power without moderation, and with 
intolerance. They accordingly formed an union, 



^34 



THIRTY YEARS' WAR ABOUT RELIGION. 



and placed the Elector Palatine Frederick at the 
head. Thereupon the Catholic princes also united, 
and bound themselves to assist each other and de- 
fend the Catholic religion. At the head of their 
League was Maximilian of Bavaria. And now, 
with the Protestant Union on one side, and the 
CATHOLIC LEAGUE on the other, armed and 
watching each other suspiciously, only a signal was 
wanted to make them draw swords. 

That signal was given on May 23, 1618. 

On the death of Rudolph II. (161 2) his brother, 
Matthias, succeeded, but he was an old man, and un- 
able to cope with the forces gathering to explosion 
in the empire. Accordingly, he committed the gov- 
ernment to his nephew, Ferdinand, whom he caused 
to be proclaimed King of Bohemia. Ferdinand went 
at once to Prague, and nominated seven Bohemian' 
Catholic nobles and three Protestants to form a 
council to govern the country. The most influen- 
tial of these were Slawata and Martinitz, the 
former of whom was especially disliked by the 
Protestants because he had become a Catholic after 
having been brought up as a Lutheran. 

Rudolph II. had issued an imperial manifesto, 
granting freedom of worship in Bohemia to Luther- 
ans, Calvinists, Calixtens, and Catholics alike. 

The Protestants began to erect two new churches 
for themselves. Impediments were thrown in their 
way. They appealed to the emperor, Matthias, 
and received a curt reply. It came to their ears that 
this was not dictated by the emperor himself, but 
proceeded from his council in Prague. They rose 



mm 



HELP FOR VIENNA. 



235 



tumultuously, took arms, and, led by Count Mat- 
thias of Thurn, attacked the imperial castle at 
Prague, burst in, and flung Slawata and Martinitz, 
with their secretary, out of the window of the coun- 
cil chamber, and fired at them as they fell. The 
height was ninety feet, yet, marvellous to relate, 
they were not killed. Under the window was a 
heap of litter, and old papers, and the mud of the 
ditch. Slawata was indeed dreadfully shattered, 
but recovered. The poor secretary tumbled upon 
Martinitz, and is said to have apologized for his ap- 
parent rudeness. He was afterwards ennobled and 
given the name of Hohenfall, or " High Fall," 
This act of violence brought on the terrible Thirty 
Years' War, which lasted through three reigns, those 
of Matthias, Ferdinand II., and Ferdinand III., and 
caused almost unparalleled misery in Germany. 

Ferdinand at once raised two bodies of troops, 
placed them under foreign generals, Dampierre and 
Bouquoi, and prepared to chastise the insurgents. 
But Count Thurn felt that the die was cast, and 
open war was inevitable. He gathered a large 
army, was assisted by the Silesians and Lusatians, 
defeated Dampierre and Bouquoi, and laid siege to 
the cities of Bohemia that remained faithful to the 
emperor. The elector palatine and the Protest- 
ant Union sent a body of mercenaries into Bohe- 
mia, under the command of the able general Mans- 
feld. At this juncture of affairs Matthias died, 
and his nephew, Ferdinand, succeeded. 

Count Thurn left Mansfeld in Bohemia to hold 
Bouquoi in check and marched swiftly through 



236 THIRTY YEARS' WAR ABOUT RELIGION. 

Moravia, increasing his army, and entered Upper 
Austria. Ferdinand was in Vienna with a small 
garrison, and no prospect of help. He knew that 
the loss of Vienna would be the loss of his crown 
and the ruin of his house. The Bohemians sur- 
rounded the city ; the cannon battered the walls of 
his palace; many of the citizens were in secret cor- 
respondence with the besiegers. Sixteen members 
of the states burst into his apartment, and with 
threats and reproaches insisted on the gates being 
opened to the insurgents, but Ferdinand never wav- 
ered for a moment. He had been kneeling in prayer 
in his cabinet when all seemed lost, when suddenly 
the conviction came over him that his delivery was 
at hand. At the very moment when all hope seemed 
gone, and the mutinous citizens were preparing to 
open the gates, a peal of trumpets announced the 
arrival of succour. It was only five hundred horse- 
men sent by Dampierre, who had effected an entry 
into the city unperceived by the besiegers. Their ar- 
rival operated like magic. The students, the burgh- 
ers flew to arms; additional succour arrived. 
The news speedily followed that Bouquoi had de- 
feated Mansfeld, dispersed his army, and was march- 
ing upon Prague. Count Thurn hastily broke up 
the siege and hastened back into Bohemia. Fer- 
dinand now went to Frankfort, where he was elected 
emperor, the Protestant electors being too divided 
in interest to oppose him. The Bohemians, how- 
aver, refused to acknowledge him as their king. 
They elected the Count Palatine Frederick, who 




237 



238 THIRTY YEARS' WAR ABOUT RELIGION. 

had married Elizabeth, daughter of James L, of Eng- 
land. 

The Hungarians also revolted, under Bethlen 
Gabor, prince of Transylvania. Gabor obtained 
possession of Presburg by treachery, where was pre- 
served the crown of Hungary, and marched upon 
Vienna, which was again besieged. Dampierre and 
Buquoi menaced the Hungarian rear, and Gabor 
was obliged to fall back ; but he caused himself to 
be crowned King of Hungary. 

Ferdinand found himself excluded from nearly 
every town in Bohemia and the greater part of 
Hungary. Frederick, elector palatine, was a vain 
and ambitious man, void of genius, and fond of dis- 
play. He was inflated with pride at his election to 
the throne of Bohemia. He went to Prague, where 
he gave offence to the Lutherans by destroying the 
sacred representations which they admitted into 
their churches, and by his levity and folly. 

The Catholic League was not idle. It had gath- 
ered an army under Maximilian of Bavaria, which 
marched to Prague, and finding the troops of Fred- 
erick and the Union outside the city on the " White 
Mountain," attacked and completely routed them 
(Nov. 8, 1620). The battle lasted little more than 
an hour. With the loss of only three hundred men 
the army of the League took all the standards and 
cannon of the enemy, left 4000 of them dead 
on the field, and drove a thousand more into the 
river Moldau ; and thus, at one blow, dissipated the 
hopes of Frederick, and decided the fate of Bohe- 
mia. Frederick mounted his horse and galloped 



FREDERICK ESCAPES. 



239 



away, leaving his crown and treasure to fall into 
the hands of the Imperialists. One winter had seen 
him flourish and fade, and thence he received the 
nick-name of the " Winter King." 

Frederick escaped to the Netherlands. The em- 
peror placed him under the ban, deprived him of 
his electorate, which he gave to Duke Maximilian of 
Bavaria, together with the Upper Palatinate, that 
remains to Bavaria to the present day. 

The Bohemians were forced to return to the 
Catholic Church, and many thousand Protestant 
families left their native land rather than submit. 




XXXIX. 



A BOHEMIAN GENTLEMAN. 



WITH the subjugation of Bohemia it seemed for 
the moment that the war was at an end. The Prot- 
estant union was broken up, and the elector pala- 
tine, its head, a refugee in Holland. But now sev- 
eral other Protestant princes, entered the field to 
carry on the war for the restoration of the banished 
palatine. These were the Margrave George Fred- 
erick of Baden-Durlach, Duke Christian of Bruns- 
wick, Count Ernest of Mansfeld, and finally, Chris- 
tian IV., King of Denmark. 

In the great battle of the White Mountain a 
Netherland general called Tilly, a man of very re- 
markable military genius, had distinguished him- 
self on the side of the Imperialists. He was now 
given command of an army. The Protestants, on 
their side, had a leader of hardly inferior ability, the 
adventurer Mansfeld. 

Tilly was defeated by Mansfeld in the spring of 
1622, and was reduced to the defensive, whilst he 
saw a powerful combination rising on every side 
against the House of Austria. He bided his time, 
waiting till he could attack singly, these enemies 
whom he could not resist when united. The oppor- 

240 




JEAN TZEKCLAES, COUNT TILLY, 



241 



242 A BOHEMIAN GENTLEMAN. 

tunity presented itself by the Margrave of Baden 
leaving Mansfeld to enter Bavaria. Tilly suddenly 
gathered some Spanish troops together, and thus 
reinforced swept down on the margrave at Wimp- 
fen, where he utterly routed him, with the loss 
of half his army, and took his whole train of artil- 
lery and military chest. Without a pause he has- 
tened after the Duke of Brunswick, caught him at 
Hochst, as he was crossing the Main, drove him 
back upon Mansfeld, who was besieging Laden- 
burg, and sent their united forces flying across the 
Rhine, to seek a refuge in Elsass. Hitherto the 
war had been carried on by the Catholic League 
for the emperor. Now the emperor resolved on 
sending an army of his own into the field, but he 
was without money. Then a Bohemian gentleman, 
Albert of Wallenstein, volunteered to raise an 
army of 50,000 fighting men, which would main- 
tain itself, and put the emperor to a comparatively 
trifling expense. Wallenstein had been born at 
Prague in 1583. For his attachment to the royal 
cause in the troubles of Bohemia he had been ban- 
ished and deprived of his estates by the Protestant 
party. On the triumph of the Imperialists his 
property was restored to him. When he made his 
offer to the emperor, Ferdinand was at first in- 
clined to treat it as the craze of a heated imagina- 
tion. But he soon found that the scheme had 
been well thought out and weighed. He therefore 
gave his consent. In a very short while Wallen- 
stein had collected an arm)- of 30,000 men, adven- 
turers, flushed with hope of advancement and a 




243 



ALBERT VON WALLENSTEIN. 



244 A B0HEMIAN GENTLEMAN. 

thirst for pillage. Before long the host had swelled 
far beyond the stipulated number. The old Prot- 
estant Union had gone to pieces, but now a Prot- 
estant League was formed, supported by Christian 
IV., King of Denmark, Gustavus Adolphus, King of 
Sweden, and James I., of England. Christian of 
Denmark took the field and entered Thuringia. 
Tilly at once flew to meet him, and defeated him. 
The king left 5000 men dead on the field, 2000 
prisoners ; and lost half his officers and all his artil- 
lery and baggage. 

At the same time Wallenstein went in search of 
Mansfeld, who had invaded Hungary, where he had 
effected a junction with Bethlen Gabor. The 
news of the defeat of Christian, however, came to 
the Protestant host, and as disease had broken out 
among them they were discouraged. Bethlen 
Gabor concluded a hasty treaty with the emperor, 
and disbanded his troops. Those of Mansfeld melted 
away with disease and desertion, and the count 
tried to escape with twelve officers to Venice, but 
fell ill on his way and died. Wallenstein, having 
delivered Hungary, hastened to unite with Tilly to 
drive King Christian out of Germany. The)' pur- 
sued him into his own territories. He was driven 
from place to place, and from post to post. The 
troops which he ventured to bring into the field 
were scattered in all directions, and before the 
close of 1628 only one fortress remained in his 
possession of the whole country between the Elbe 
and the extremity of Jutland. 

Now, once more, peace might have been restored 



WALLENSTEIN RETIRES. 



245 



to distracted and miserable Germany but for the 
pride and elation of Ferdinand, who refused the 
overtures made by the King of Denmark. 

By the Pacification of Passau, in 1552, it will be 
remembered that the Protestant princes undertook 
not to confiscate any more of the estates of the 
Church, bishoprics and abbeys. They had not, 
however, acted scrupulously in this matter. By a 
subterfuge more ingenious than justifiable they 
had managed to get hold of all the ecclesiastical 
principalities. At this time the Margrave of Bran- 
denburg had got possession of the archbishopric 
of Magdeburg and the bishopric of Halberstadt. 
The Duke of Holstein had the bishoprics of Liibeck 
and the archbishopric of Hamburg and Bremen, 
and Frederick II., Prince of Denmark, had the bish- 
opric of Werden. They abolished Catholicism, 
and did away with Episcopacy, yet retained for 
themselves the titles and the possessions and princi- 
palities of the bishops.* The Protestant princes 
would not yield up such rich and important posses- 
sions, and the war was prosecuted. Wallenstein 
drove the two dukes of Mecklenburg from their 
duchies, and laid siege to Stralsund. The citizens 
of this town, however, held out with great deter- 
mination. Although the King of Denmark was de- 
feated on land, his fleet, with that of the King of 
Sweden, came to the aid of Stralsund, and baffled 
all the efforts of Wallenstein. He is said to have 
declared that " he would reduce Stralsund, even if 

* They had taken two archbishoprics and twelve bishoprics. 



246 



A BOHEMIAN GENTLEMAN 



bound to heaven with chains of adamant." His 
perseverance would have succeeded had not the 
citizens invoked the aid of Gustavus Adolphus, 
King of Sweden, who threw a Swedish garrison into 
the town, and Wallenstein, exhausted by fatigue, 
was forced to retire. 

In the mean time Wallenstein's soldiers had 
become the dread of Germany. Wherever they 
went they pillaged Catholics and Protestants alike. 
They were mere mercenaries fighting for plunder, 
and quite indifferent on which side they fought. 
They burnt villages and towns, robbed and mur- 
dered and maltreated wherever they went. Some 
impoverished citizens killed themselves to escape 
the misery of a lingering death by hunger. Moved 
by the distress of the country, the Catholic League 
assembled at Heidelberg in 1629, and requested 
the emperor to restore peace and remedy the evils 
occasioned by Wallenstein's army. 

Ferdinand was obliged to submit, and the com- 
mand of the United League and imperial army was 
taken from Wallenstein and given to Tilly. Wal- 
lenstein, whom the emperor had created Duke of 
Friedland, retired to his estates in Bohemia. 



XL. 

A SWEDISH KING IN GERMANY. 

The emperor now insisted on the restoration of 
the two archbishoprics and twelve bishoprics seized 
by the Protestant princes, and began forcibly to 
wrest them away. He took the archbishopric of 
Magdeburg and appointed his son Leopold to it, 
and gave him also the archbishopric of Hamburg 
and the bishopric of Halberstadt, and the abbey of 
Hersfeld, on which the Landgrave of Hesse had laid 
his hands. The Protestant princes appealed for 
help to Gustavus Adolphus, a king of great military 
skill, vast energy and resource. He landed with a 
small but well-organized army on the coast of Pom- 
erania. When the news reached the Emperor 
Ferdinand, his courtiers said that this was only a 
snow king menacing him, who would melt away as 
he came South under the rays of the imperial sun. 
But the army of Ferdinand soon saw the fallacy 
of this. Gustavus Adolphus drove it out of Pom- 
erania, and then hastened to the relief of Magde- 
burg, which was besieged by Tilly. His assistance, 
however, came too late. Tilly took the city, and it 
became a prey to his lawless soldiers, who plun- 
dered and fired it. For one whole day the place 

247 



248 A SWEDISH KING IN GERMANY. 

was at their mercy. The most dreadful scenes were 
enacted. The wild Croatian mercenaries rushed up 
and down the streets massacring every man they 
met, and throwing burning brands into the houses. 
They even burst into a church and killed the 
women they found huddled there. On the second 
day only did Tilly enter the city to stay the slaugh- 
ter and ruin. He was a tall, haggard-looking man, 
dressed in a short slashed green satin jacket, with a 
long red feather in his high-crowned hat, with large 
bright eyes peering from beneath his deeply fur- 
rowed brow, a stiff moustache under his pointed 
nose. He sat on a bony charger, and looked round 
on the ruins. Smoke and lambent flame rose on 
all sides. The wood and plaster houses were de- 
stroyed ; only the cathedral, the churches and stone- 
built houses stood intact. In the streets lay the 
stark bodies of twenty thousand dead men. The 
cathedral doors were opened, and four thousand 
men who had taken refuge in it were brought forth, 
pale, famished, and trembling, almost all that re- 
mained of the inhabitants. Tilly wrote to Vienna, 
" Since the destruction of Troy and Jerusalem no 
such a siege has been seen." 

With the capture and destruction of Magdeburg 
the luck of Tilly turned. Hitherto he had been 
resistless ; now the shadow of this crime weighed 
on him and paralysed him. Gustavus Adolphus 
marched against him, and the two armies met at 
Breitenfeld, near Leipzig. Tilly, who could boast 
of having won thirty-six battles, was here beaten for 
the first time, and had to seek safety in flight. 




249 



2$0 



A SWEDISH KING IN GERM AX Y. 



Gustavus Adolphus now swept through German}-, 
driving out the Catholics, as Tilly had expelled the 
Protestants. At Merseburg two thousand of the 
Imperialists were cut to pieces. Wurzburg was 
taken, and all the monks found in it given up to 
the soldiers to butcher. The Swedes were as un- 
sparing as the Imperialists. Only within the last 
five years have the skulls been buried of all the 
male population of Kirchoven in the Breisgau who 
were slaughtered by the Swedes, after having in- 
duced them to surrender with promise of life. 

The palatine and his wife Elizabeth returned, 
and the latter, in her delight at the successes of 
Gustavus, on meeting him threw her arms round 
his neck and exclaimed, " Not Tilly, but I, have 
taken Gustavus the Great a prisoner ! " They ac- 
companied him in his triumphant march through 
Bavaria, and with him entered Munich; and in 
mockery both of the religion of the people and of 
the arms of the city, which is a monk, she made a 
monkey ride on a horse at her side dressed in mo- 
nastic habit, with a rosary in its paw, blinking and 
making faces at the people. Again Tilly gathered 
an army and met Gustavus, but in a battle on the 
Lech was defeated, and a cannon ball shattered his 
thigh. His dying warning to Maximilian, Elector 
of Bavaria, was to garrison Ratisbon, at any price, 
as the key to Austria and Bohemia. 

The cruelties and outrages committed by the 
Swedes now exasperated the peasantry to the last 
degree, and they rose against them, and, hiding in 
the birch woods that cover so much of the rubbly 



WALLENS TE1N 'S MA GA IEICENCE. 



251 



plain of Bavaria, sallied forth and fell on all the 
stragglers of the Protestant army. Banner, an of- 
ficer of Gustavus, took a fearful vengeance on the 
town of Friedstadt, where the citizens had mur- 
dered some of his soldiers, who had been plunder- 
ing and outraging the people. He burnt the place 
to the ground, and put all the inhabitants to the 
sword. 

Gustavus was a sturdily-built man, with a tall 
head, pale blue or gray eyes. He wore no armour, 
but a buff leather jerkin, and on his head a white 
hat with a green feather in it, and high top yellow 
leather boots. He had landed in Pomerania with 
only sixteen thousand men, but his army rapidly 
swelled as that of the Imperialists melted away. 
The snow king, instead of melting, like a snowball 
gathered size as he rolled on. He had now 70,000 
men. In his dire distress, not knowing where else 
to turn for aid, the emperor appealed once more to 
Wallenstein. Wallenstein, fully aware of the em- 
peror's helplessness, coldly refused unless his own 
terms were acceded to, that the whole of the im- 
perial troops should be placed solely and unre- 
servedly under his command, and that every con- 
quest made by him should be entirely at his dis- 
posal, and that he should be allowed to confiscate 
whatever property he chose for the maintenance of 
his troops. These were hard terms, and placed the 
emperor and his dominions at the mercy of an un- 
principled adventurer. But in his necessity Fer- 
dinand had no resource but to yield. Wallenstein 
had been living in more than royal state in Bohemia 



252 ^ SWEDISH KING IN GERMANY. 

on the spoils of his first campaign. He had a mag- 
nificent palace at Prague, with six gates guarded by 
sentinels. Fifty halbardiers, clothed in splendid 
uniforms, waited in his ante-chamber; six barons and 
as many knights attended his person ; his table was 
daily spread for sixty guests ; his stables were fur- 
nished with marble mangers. When he travelled 
his numerous suites were conveyed in twelve state 
coaches and fifty carriages ; as many waggons bore 
his plate and equipage, and the cavalcade was ac- 
companied by fifty grooms on horseback, with fifty 
led horses richly caparisoned. Wallenstein was a 
tall, thin man, with sallow complexion, red, short 
cropped hair, with small twinkling eyes. He did 
not talk much but he was very observant, and he 
quickly took the measure of the abilities of a man 
with whom he had to do. He was grand and noble 
in his ideas, disdained dissimulation, hated flattery 
and every vice that evinced meanness and timidity 
of character. He was very generous to all who did 
him a good turn, but implacable in his resentments. 
No sooner was it rumoured that Wallenstein was to 
be general again than mercenaries came to him 
from all quarters, and he found himself at once at 
the head of sixty thousand men. Gustavus was then 
at Nuremberg at the head of only sixteen thousand. 
Wallenstein marched against him, but would not 
attack him. If ever you go to Nuremberg by rail 
you will cross a long, level plain, very bare of trees, 
but you will see some rising ground before reach- 
ing Nuremberg, crowned by a town. This is Furth, 
which name means a fort. It was a strongly forti- 



BA TTLE AT L UTZEN . 



253 



fied place. Gustavus made it his headquarters. 
Wallenstein occupied a low wooded hill, about two 
miles south of Furth, surmounted by a ruined 
castle, where he intrenched himself, and quietly 
waited his time. Some one asked him why he did 
not attack the Swedish king, as he had so many 
more men. " No," answered Wallenstein, " too 
much has been staked on battles. Wait; we will 
try other means." Now he was himself eager to 
measure his military skill against Gustavus, who was 
considered the greatest general of the day, but he 
restrained his ardour, and waited, watching him for 
three whole months. Gustavus could not get away. 
He was cramped in Furth. He was short of provis- 
ions, but then he was gathering help from his allies, 
till his army swelled to the size of that of the Im- 
perialists. The Duke of Bavaria became impatient, 
and remonstrated with Wallenstein. "Wait," an- 
swered the Bohemian general. His soldiers became 
clamorous. "Wait," he said. And he was right. 
At last Gustavus could bear inaction no more ; pes- 
tilence had broken out in his army, and he deter- 
mined to drive Wallenstein from his position. The 
attack was commenced by the German troops in the 
Swedish service, but a shower of balls, rained down 
from a hundred pieces of artillery, soon compelled 
them to retreat. Gustavus then, to shame them, led 
on his own sturdy warriors, the Finlanders ; but 
their ranks were shattered by a cannonade, and 
bravery availed nothing against an enemy who was 
not to be reached. A third attack met no better 
success. A fourth, fifth, sixth, from fresh bodies 



254 A SWEDISH A /AG IN GERM AX Y. 

of troops, proved equally hopeless, and at last, 
after a ten-hours' engagement, and a loss of 3000 
men, Gustavus was compelled to draw off his 
forces. The difficult task of effecting a retreat in the 
face of the enemy was skilfully executed by Colonel 
Hepburn, a Scotch officer in the Swedish service. 

Offended at the promotion of an inferior officer 
above his head, he had sworn not to draw his 
sword for Gustavus again ; but now the king, in 
his emergency, begged of him this favour, the 
brave soldier forgot his resentment. " Sire, this is 
the only service I cannot refuse to perform, since 
it requires some daring," was his answer, and he 
executed his task most gallantly. But it was not 
Wallenstein's intention always to remain on the de- 
fensive. At length, on Nov. 6, 1632, just two 
months after the battle of Fiirth, the imperial and 
Swedish armies were ranged against each other for 
a decisive engagement at Liitzen, not far from 
Leipzig. A thick fog that hung about till eleven 
o'clock hid each army from the other. The Impe- 
rialists were drawn up in line with four squares of 
infantry in the centre, which were further protected 
by trenches lined with musketeers and flanked 
with cannon. 

The king himself led the attack. Annoyed by 
the trenches he leaped from his horse, seized a 
pike and led on his men to pass them, and the im- 
perial infantry were driven back. But at that mo- 
ment Gustavus heard that his left was wavering. 
flew to its assistance, but, in the fog, missed his 
way, and was surrounded by a body of Imperialist 



. DEATH OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 2 $$ 

horsemen, who fired. A ball struck. and shattered 
his arm ; a second pierced his breast. He fell from 
his saddle, and his masterless horse, dashing along 
the front of the lines, proclaimed to the troops the 
loss of their king. The Duke of Saxe-Weimar 
cried out that Gustavus was not dead, but a pris- 
oner, and the Swedes rushed like an avalanche on 
the Imperialists, mad with rage, and eager to res- 
cue their sovereign. The Imperialists gave way. 
Two of their powder waggons exploded, and the 
victory would have declared for the Swedes had 
not reinforcements arrived to arrest their victorious 
career. Then the fog came down with the ap- 
proach of night, dense, raw, and blinding, and put 
an end to the battle. But for the death of Gusta- 
vus the rout of Wallenstein would have been com- 
plete. He had lost his cannon, and his men were 
disorganized. He withdrew to Bohemia to recon- 
struct his army, and there he remained for a long 
time inactive, whilst carrying on a secret correspon- 
dence with the enemy. 

Ferdinand, in the mean time, was very uneasy at 
the tremendous power exercised by the general, and 
he desired to escape from the obligation wherewith 
he had bound himself when asking Wallenstein's 
help. The town of Ratisbon, which was the key 
to Bohemia, was besieged by the Duke of Weimar, 
and the emperor ordered Wallenstein to relieve it. 
But the Duke of Friedland (that was Wallenstein's 
title) refused to be ordered about by the emperor, 
as against the compact, and allowed Ratisbon and 
two other important towns to be taken by the 



256 



A SWEDISH KJXG IN GERMANY. 



enemy without attempting to stay them. This 
conduct irritated Ferdinand, and he resolved on 
dismissing him from the supreme command. Then 
Wallenstein, in his anger and disgust, sent offers to 
the Protestant princes to come over to their side. 
But they suspected that he was only deluding them 
and put him off. The imperial court was well 
aware of the meditated treachery, and in alarm at 
its result. Who could resist Wallenstein, combined 
with the Protestant princes and the Swedes? In 
indignation Ferdinand deprived him of the com- 
mand and pronounced against him the ban of the 
empire. But Wallenstein was confident in his 
power over his men. He was mistaken. 

There were two Scotchmen, Gordon and Leslie, 
and an Irishman, Butler, whom he specially trusted. 
They had, however, been gained by the imperial 
court. Another, Captain Devereux, was taken into 
the plot. At midnight of February 25, 1634, Gor- 
don, at the head of thirty soldiers, burst into Wal- 
lenstetn's bedroom after he had retired to rest. 
Alarmed by the tramp he sprang from his bed in 
his night-shirt, and forced open his window to call 
for assistance. Devereux shouted, " Are you the 
traitor who are going to deliver the imperial troops 
to the enemy, and tear the crown from the head of 
the emperor?" Wallenstein made no reply. He 
stretched out his arms. Gordon held aloft the flam- 
ing candle, and a halbert was run through the body 
of the great general. 

Though the treachery of Wallenstein is undenia- 
ble, his murder must ever remain as a stain on the 
history of Austria. 



XLI. 



PEACE AFTER THE LONG WAR. 



(1648.) 

After the death of Wallenstein the command over 
the imperial army was given to the son of the em- 
peror, afterwards Ferdinand III., and in the place of 
Gustavus Adolphus, Duke Bernard of Weimar and 
the Swedish general, Horn, commanded the Protest- 
ant armies. At Nordlingen the latter were com- 
pletely defeated. Horn was taken prisoner and 
Bernard fled, with the loss of all his treasure and 
twelve thousand men. The French, now jealous of 
the power of the emperor, came to the assistance of 
the Protestants, and formed an army, burning, butch- 
ering and plundering over the Rhine. Success 
swayed from side to side ; neither obtained decisive 
victory. The country was become too exhausted to 
endure further war. Attempts at concluding peace 
were begun at Osnabriick and Miinster, and finally 
concluded in 1648 ; and this is known in history as 
the Peace of Westphalia. 

This peace brought the terrible Thirty Years' War 
to an end, but by it Germany lost some of her 
fairest territories. France took Elsass, Sweden took 
Pomerania. Switzerland and Holland, which had 

257 



258 PEACE AFTER THE LONG WAR. 

hitherto been united to the German Empire, were 
separated, and recognized as independent states. 
The supreme power was invested in the Reichstag, 
or Imperial Diet, which was to sit permanently at 
Ratisbon. The several German princes were made 
almost wholly independent, so that the empire as an 
unity was reduced to a shadow. With regard to 
religion, Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were 
put on the same footing of equality. All church 
lands seized by the Protestants were to remain in 
the hands of the Protestant princes. Pope Innocent 
X. protested and published a bull against this decis- 
ion, but no one paid attention to him. Germany was 
sick to the heart of war. 

Of the devastation wrought in those terrible thirty 
years it is hard to realize the extent. Two-thirds 
of the inhabitants had perished, not only by the 
sword, but by the miseries which followed in the 
train of war — famine and pestilence. Hundreds of 
villages had disappeared ; others stood empty, un- 
populated. The corn-fields were trampled down and 
untilled. Trade had failed in the towns. The 
streets were deserted and grass-grown, the doors of 
the houses broken in. The shattered windows of 
many dwellings showed that the inhabitants were 
dead or were wanderers. But to come to particulars. 
In the little duchy of Wiirtemberg, in the Thirty 
Years' War, 8 towns, 45 villages, 68 churches, and 
36,000 houses were destroyed. In the seven years 
between 1634-1641, in Wiirtemberg alone, 345,000 
persons perished. In Thuringia, before the war, in 
19 villages were 1773 families ; of these only 316 



REDUCTION OF POPULATION. 



259 



remained after it. Before the war there were half a 
million inhabitants in the Palatinate ; at the Peace 
of Westphalia there were 48,000. In 161 8 the 
population of Germany numbered between 16 and 
17 millions ; in 1649 there were not quite 4 millions. 
So terrible had been the famine during the war 
that cases of cannibalism were not rare. Bands 
of men were formed who lived like wild beasts, 
preying on those they caught. Near Worms such 
a band was attacked and dispersed, as they were 
cooking in a great cauldron human legs and arms. 
Starving creatures cut down criminals from the gal- 
lows to eat them. So great was the depopula- 
tion that in Franconia the state passed a law 
authorizing every man to marry two wives, and 
forbidding men and women from becoming monks 
and nuns. 



XLII. 



THREE STROKES BV A MAX IN YELLOW. 



(1657-1705.) 

Ten years after the Peace of Westphalia Leopold, 
the son of Ferdinand III., was elected emperor. 
His long reign of nearly fifty years was for the most 
part taken up with war against Louis XIV., of 
France. This crafty and powerful monarch had 
made up his mind that the Rhine should be the 
frontier of his realm. Leopold was an amiable but 
weak sovereign, reigning at a time when one of very 
strong character and iron will was necessary to bind 
together the loosely cohering empire, and to meet 
and frustrate the intrigues of Louis. 

The princes of Germany were so selfish, so indif- 
ferent to the welfare of fatherland in their greed 
of personal advancement, that they were ready to 
lend an ear to the wily advice of th French king, 
and to act as his tools against their country's peace 
and prosperity. Accordingly, many of the German 
princes sided with the French king against their 
emperor. By the Treaty of Westphalia Charles 
Louis, son of the contemptible Frederick, the winter 
king, was reinstated in the Palatinate of the Rhine, 
of which Heidelberg was the capital, but he was 
not given back the Upper Palatinate, which re- 

260 



FRENCH DE VAST A TIONS. 2 6 1 

mained to Bavaria. This irritated him, and he 
readily received bribes from Louis XIV. The 
Duke of Wiirtemberg also sided with the French, 
as well as the electors of Mainz and Cologne, and 
the dukes of Brunswick and Hesse-Cassel. 

The result of this was that some of the fairest 
parts of Germany, especially the right bank of the 
Rhine and the Palatinate, were wasted by the 
French. Towns and villages just recovering from 
the Thirty Years' War were burnt again. Several 
important towns were lost to Germany, especially 
Strasburg, which was treacherously seized by Louis 
in time of peace (1681). Louis had for some time 
been in correspondence with some of the magis- 
trates of Strasburg. One day M. de Louvois, the 
French minister of war, summoned a gentleman to 
him named Chamilly, and gave him the following 
instructions : " Start this evening for Basle. On the 
fourth day from this, punctually at 2 o'clock, sta- 
tion yourself on the Rhine bridge, note-book in 
hand, and write down everything you see going on 
for two hours. Then at four o'clock come back, 
travelling night and day without stopping." 

Chamilly obeyed. He reached Basle, and on the 
day and at the hour appointed stationed himself, 
note-book in hand, on the bridge. Presently, a 
market-cart drives by. Then an old woman with a 
basket of fruit passes. Anon, a little urchin trun- 
dles his hoop by. Next, an old gentleman in blue 
top-coat jogs past on his grey mare. Three o'clock 
chimes from the cathedral tower. Just at the last 
stroke a tall fellow in yellow waistcoat and breeches 
saunters up, goes to the middle of the bridge, 



2 62 THREE STROKES BY A MAN IN YELLOW. 

lounges over, looks at the water, then strikes three 
hearty blows with his stick on the parapet. Down 
goes every detail in Chamilly's book. At four 
o'clock he jumps into his carnage, and at midnight, 
after two days of incessant travelling, presents him- 
self before the minister, feeling ashamed of having 
such trifles to record. M. de Louvois took the note- 
book, and when his eye caught the mention of the 
yellow-breeched man a gleam of joy flashed across 
his face. He rushed to the king, roused him from 
sleep, spoke in private with him for a few moments, 
and then couriers were sent off in haste with sealed 
orders. Eight days after, the city of Strasburg was 
surrounded by French troops and summoned to sur- 
render. It capitulated, and threw open its gates on 
the 30th September, 1681. The three strokes of the 
stick given by the fellow in yellow were the signal 
that the magistrates were ready to receive the French. 
Three pacifications were concluded with the 
French: that of Nimwegen, which concluded the 
Dutch war in 1678 , that of Ryswick, at the end 
of the Orleans war, carried on because of the claim 
of the Duchess of Orleans to the estates of her 
brother Charles, the elector palatine, who died with- 
out children (this was concluded in 1697); and that 
of Utrecht, after the Spanish War of the Succession, 
in 1714. The people called these treaties the peaces 
of Nimweg, Reissweg, and Unrecht (take-away, 
tear-away, and unright), because Germain- lost 
something by them all. In order to facilitate his 
schemes Louis XIV. stirred up the Turks to invade 
the empire. They poured through Hungary and 
laid siege to Vienna, which held out valiantly for 



yu 



DEFEA T OF THE TURKS. 



263 



two months. The Turks swept the neighborhood 
and sent eighty-seven thousand of the inhabitants 
into slavery. They blew up the walls, and the city 
was surrounded by ruins and piles of rubbish. Still 
the dauntless Viennese held out, animated by their 
gallant commander, Count Stahrenberg, who, though 
wounded, was carried in a litter, and by their 
bishop, Kolonitsch, who devoted himself zealously 
to ministering to the wounded. At last, in despair, 









k 




BERLIN IN 1660. 

they sent up a flight of rockets from the top of the 
spire of S. Stephen's Church. It was answered by 
the discharge of fire-arms ; John Sobieski, King of 
Poland, had come to the rescue. The Turks were 
defeated and driven back with a loss of twenty 
thousand men. When the tent of the visir who 
commanded the Turks was taken, the letters of 
Louis XIV. were found in it, inciting him against 
the Austrians. 

During this sad time of hostility two men espe- 
cially distinguished themselves by their high char- 
acters, genius, and courage, these were the " Great 
Elector" and Prince Eugene. 



R?? 


WM 




awn «£3 

p3' li . ^7^3 





XLIII. 



A NOBLE RULER. 



(1640-168S.) 

By the Peace of Westphalia Germany was di- 
vided into a great number of independent states. 
The princes of these states, as already said, cared 
little for the commonwealth, and were bent on their 
own selfish ends, and they set the emperor at defi- 
ance. The Elector of Brandenburg was a noble 
exception. 

Henry I. had created the Margravate of Branden- 
burg as a bulwark against the heathen Wends, who 
lived on the Baltic. It was not then called Bran- 
denburg but the Northmark. But Albert the Bear, 
who conquered the greater portion of the Wend- 
land and annexed it to his state, called himself Mar- 
grave of Brandenburg. His race died out, and at 
the time of the Council of Constance, Frederick of 
Hohenzollern, Burgrave of Nuremberg, bought the 
margravate from the emperor Sigismund, in 141 5. 
You may remember an account given of Hohen- 
staufen, the cradle of the great Swabian emperors. 
Hohenzollern, the cradle of the kings of Prussia and 
present emperors of Germany, is just such another 
conical hill, in the same Swabian table-land. It be- 

264 



SWABIA'S CONICAL HILL. 



26: 



longs now to the emperor, who has rebuilt the cas- 
tle with great splendour. You may remember also 
how you were told that Albert of Brandenburg, 
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, became a 
Lutheran and seized on Prussia, which was the 
possession of the Order, and made it his own as a 




MEN OF WAR OF THE GREAT ELECTOR. 
(From model in Berlin.) 

hereditary state. Albert left granddaughters, and 
Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, mar- 
ried Eleanor, the younger, and his son, John Sigis- 
mund, married Anna, the elder, and secured the 
Duchy of Prussia to their family. The relationship 
was strange. Eleanor was thus stepmother to her 
elder sister, and the stepmother was seven years 
younger than her stepdaughter. Frederick William, 
the Great Elector, was grandson of John Sigismund 
and Anna. Under him a great deal of additional 



266 



A XOBLE RULER. 



territory was got, but he gained his name of " The 
Great Elector " partly by his wise government of his 
states, and partly by his brilliant military achieve- 
ments. He stood faithfully by the side of the em- 
peror and resisted all the overtures of the King of 
France. Louis XIV., to keep his dangerous oppo- 
nent engaged at a distance from the Rhine, made a 
league with the Swedes, and induced them to attack 
Brandenburg whilst the elector was on the Upper 




THE GREAT ELECTOR AND WIFE. 
(From a medal.) 

Rhine. But no sooner did he hear of their descent 
than he hastened home with forced marches and 
encountered them when they least expected his 
presence. A battle was fought at Fehrbellin. Dur- 
ing the fight his equerry, Frobenius, observed that 
the enemy's fire was mainly directed against the 
elector himself, who was distinguished by the white 
horse he rode. Frobenius induced the elector to 
change mounts with him. Scarce had he done so 
and gone two paces from his master when a can- 
non-ball struck him dead. Shortly after, Frederick 



THE SWEDES DEFEATED. 267 

William saw himself surrounded by the enemy, but 
he had nine dragoons with him, and they hewed their 
way through. After a desperate struggle the Bran- 
denburgers won the day, and the Swedes, who had 
been thought invincible, were obliged to take to 
flight. In the winter of 1678 the Swedes again in- 
vaded Prussia, but were repulsed by the elector, who 
pursued them in sledges over the frozen Gulf of 
Courland, caught them again at Riga, and again de- 
feated them. 



XLIV. 

BITTERLY FIGHTING THE TURKS. 

Prince Eugene of Savoy was a small man of no 
presence, whose mission it was to check the ad- 
vance of Louis XIV. in Germany on the West, and 
in the East to break the power of the Turks. On 
account of his feeble body he had been designed 
for the Church, and was nicknamed "the little Ab- 
bot." But Eugene felt no call for the religious 
life, and a very great desire to be a soldier. He 
first offered his services to Louis XIV., but that 
king dismissed him contemptuously, and then he 
left France and took part in the Austrian wars 
against the Turks. During the siege of Vienna, in 
1683, he displayed such heroism that the emperor 
gave him the command of a regiment of dragoons. 
The great dragoons scoffed at their officer and said, 
" Hah ! the Abbotikin in his grey cloak won't 
reach the chins of the Turks to pull their beards." 
But they were mistaken. He not only pulled their 
beards, but pulled them over and made them bite 
the dust. In 1697 he was given his first command 
over an army, and was sent to oppose the Turks, 
who had invaded Hungary under the lead of the 
sultan. Eugene came on them as they were crossing 

268 



PULLING THE TURKISH BEARDS. 269 

the river Teiss on a temporary bridge, and with the 
loss of only 500 men completely routed the Turks, 
who lost 30,000 men, and sent the sultan flying 
back to Constantinople. 

Louis XIV. now did all in his power to gain the 
little man. He offered him the title of field-marshal, 
the governorship of a French province, and a large 
sum of money. But Eugene sent the messengers 
back with the answer, " Tell your king that I am 
field-marshal to an emperor, which is quite as hon- 
ourable an office as that he offers me. As for 
money, I do not want it. As long as I faithfully 
serve my master, he will not suffer me to lack." 
Prince Eugene completely won the hearts of his 
soldiers. He looked carefully after their wants, and 
when their pay was in arrear he would pay them 
out of his own pocket. He was frank and kindly in 
address ; and when the little man called to his sol- 
diers to show their metal, it was like sending an 
electric shock through them ; they would go any- 
where, do anything he told them. He gained great 
renown through his success against the Turks, who 
were not only the enemies of Austria, but of Chris- 
tendom. He defeated them in several battles, and 
at length forced them to conclude a peace greatly 
to the advantage of the emperor. 

Eugene was soon to gain even greater renown by 
his victories over the French. 



XLV. 

ALL EUROPE AT WAR. 

(1701-1714.) 

AFTER the death of Charles II. of Spain, without 
children, Louis XIV. of France, the emperor, Leo- 
pold I., and Joseph Ferdinand, Elector of Bavaria, 
all put in a claim to the crown of Spain. This 
occasioned a war of thirteen years, in which the 
principal European states were involved. It began 
under Leopold I., was carried on by his son, Joseph 
I., and only came to an end under Charles VI., the 
brother of Joseph I. 

On the side of the emperor were Holland, Eng- 
land, Portugal, the Elector of Hanover, and the 
Elector Frederick of Brandenburg, who, with the 
consent of the emperor, assumed the title of King 
of Prussia. 

The command of the allies was given to Prince 
Eugene and the illustrious English general, the 
Duke of Marlborough. Against such able com- 
manders the French could do nothing. They were 
beaten in Germany, beaten in the Netherlands, and 
beaten in Italy. Their allies were the Elector of 
Bavaria and the Pope. Moreover, an insurrection 
broke out in Hungary at the very time that they 

270 



*i 




FREDERICK I., KING OF PRUSSIA. 
(From the painting by Wenzel.) 



27 r 



2J 2 ALL EUROPE AT IVAR. 

were invading Germany, so as greatly to distract 
the imperial forces. Prince Eugene began the war 
in Italy, but speedily Germany became the scene 
of conflict, as Louis XIV. poured an army over the 
Rhine, across the Black Forest to the Danube, 
threatening Vienna. This great army, which was 
joined by the Bavarians, numbered 56,000 men, 
and Marlborough and Eugene were only able to 
oppose 52,000 to them. The great and decisive 
battle, upon which the fate of the House of Austria 
hung, was fought at Blenheim, a village on the 
Danube, between Ulm and Ingolstadt. The French 
were drawn up behind the small stream, the Nebel- 
bach, which forms swamps and marshes, before 
it falls into the Danube. In addition to these 
swamps ninety pieces of cannon protected the 
centre. On the right the French had the village 
of Blenheim ; and the left rested on a thick wood. 
Marlborough and Eugene drew up before the 
swamp, in order of battle, Marlborough on the left 
and centre, and Eugene on the right. The battle 
began with an attack by the British infantry on 
Blenheim, but they were repulsed, after repeated 
encounters, with great slaughter. Then Marlbor- 
ough suddenly gathered them together and drove 
them like a wedge against the centre, scrambling, 
floundering through the swamps, but going on 
as Englishmen will go, although the 90 cannon 
pounded them. A cannon-ball grazed his horse 
and threw Marlborough to the ground ; the troops 
trembled for their leader ; the fate of Austria 
hung suspended on the life of the general. But 



SUBMISSION OF DUKE OF BA VAKIA. 



273 



next moment he was seen mounted again. A ring- 
ing cheer burst from the British, and on they went, 
flinging bundles and faggots before them into the 
marsh, and stepping over on them. Marlborough 
got the cavalry over first and charged up the slope 
at the French and Bavarians. After the cavalry 
came the infantry. The centre gave way, recoiled ; 
the enemy's force broke up, and nothing remained 
but a disorganized multitude. Of the enemy 40,- 
000 men were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. 
They lost 300 standards and 120 pieces of cannon. 

The present post-road has been carried over the 
battle-field, and, to make a foundation, heaps of 
bones of horses and men have been shovelled in 
that were found there when the road was con- 
structed. Broken, dispersed, and ruined, the 
wretched remains of that army which had threat- 
ened Germany with bondage, and spread terror to 
the gates of Vienna, made the best of its way back 
to the Rhine and Vosges, pursued by the allies. 
The first result of this victory was the submission 
of the Duke of Bavaria ; the next was that the 
emperor was able to send troops into Hungary to 
quell the insurrection there. The battle of Blen- 
heim was fought on Aug. 2, 1704. The scene of 
warfare now passed to the Netherlands ; but Marl- 
borough remained inactive all 1705, watching the 
French, who contemptuously invented and piped a 
song, " Marlborough s'en va t'en guerre," which 
was played before his lines to fire him into activity ; 
but Marlborough knew what he was about, and 
on May 12, 1706, he went to war in good earnest, 




JOSEPH I., EMPEROR OF GERMANY. 



274 



TREATY OF KASTADT. 



275 



met the French at Ramillies and totally defeated 
them. He beat them again in 1708 at Oudenarde, 
and again with great loss at Malplaquet in 1709. 
At the same time Eugene was defeating the French 
in Italy. Overwhelmed by these disasters Louis 
XIV. tried to make peace. He offered to give up 
all claim to Spain, and even to supply money to 
help the allies to expel his grandson, Philip of 
Anjou, the new king, out of Spain. But the allies 
were not satisfied with these offers. They insisted 
on Louis himself driving his grandson out of Spain, 
and binding himself to do it within two months. 
This was asking for the impossible, and Louis XIV. 
said, with reason, " Well, if I must fight, let it be 
against my natural enemies, not against my own 
children." 

"Pride," says the proverb, "goes before a fall." 
This proved true now. Fortune turned quite unex- 
pectedly, and favoured the French king. The emper- 
or Joseph I. died without children, and the Austrian 
inheritance passed to his brother Charles, who 
claimed the throne of Spain. But European sover- 
eigns did not want to have an emperor with the 
dominions of Charles V., so he was forced to give up 
his claims to Spain, and the grandson of Louis XIV. 
was acknowledged as king and took the title of 
Philip V. This was the result of the agreement 
come to by the powers at the Peace of Utrecht in 
171 3, and the emperor was obliged next year to con- 
sent to it at the Treaty of Rastadt. 




XLVI. 

POWDERED WIGS AND PATCHES. 

We are now at the period of powdered wigs and 
patched faces. It is called the period of rococco, 
from rodie and coquille, rock and shell, as the orna- 
mental work in architectural decoration affected a 
combination of rock and shell work. There was a 
general reaction against the stiffness of former times. 
All straight lines were avoided ; gentlemen even 
studied to stand in curved attitudes. The ladies in 
the 1 6th century had worn rich and thick damask 
silks, embroidered till they were stiff. At the mar- 
riage of a princess of one of the Saxon families she 
found it impossible to kneel, and was obliged to be 
married standing, like an extinguisher, with her 
skirts hard as board. But now the ladies wore light 
silk and satin, with their skirts looped up in paniers, 
showing petticoats of another colour. Their heads 
of hair were, however, piled up and interwoven with 
ribbands and chains of pearls, and feathers and 
flowers were stuck into them, so that before going 
out in such array they could not lie down to sleep 
in their beds. 

Gentlemen wore white powdered wigs, velvet 
coats richly frogged, and long satin embroidered 
waistcoats, satin breeches, and silk stockings. They 
had their faces closely shaved. The story is told of 

276 



~ 



LUXURY AND EXTRAVAGANCE. 



277 



a duchess, Louise Maria Gonzaga, niece of Louis 
XIV., when she was shown the portrait of Ladislas, 
King of Poland, whom she was to marry, that she 
exclaimed: — " But — he is deformed! He has two 
great moles, like rats' tails, growing on his upper 
lip ! " — These were his moustaches. She had never 
seen, or supposed it possible, that men's hair grew 
thus. 

A great deal of building 
went on in Germany at this 
time, and the churches in the 
Catholic parts, which had 
been half wrecked by the 
Swedes, were restored. 
Statues were sculptured in 
theatrical attitudes, and cov- 
ered with tinfoil washed over 
with colour to represent sat- 
in. Everything that could 
be gilt was overlaid with gold 
leaf. It was a splendour- 
loving time. In the courts, 
luxury and extravagance 
were unbridled, and the 
peasantry were ground down 
with taxes to supply funds for this prodigality. 

During the Thirty Years' War most of the old 
country nobility had died out or been impoverished. 
The only people who had gained by these wars 
were the princes, who were left alone, with no one to 
stand between them and the people, and they ruled 
by caprice, levying taxes as they wanted money. 




HEAD-DRESSES. (TIME OF 
FREDERICK WILLIAM II.) 



V 



POWDERED WIGS AND PATCHES. 



The emperor took to issuing patents of nobility 
and selling titles to raise money, and the princes 
did the same. Any one who could find money 
was able to obtain what title he desired. 

The poetry of the period is pompous and unnat- 
ural, but to this rococco age one art owes its 
birth, that of music. 




. 



XLVII. 



THE TROUBLES OF A NOBLE QUEEN. 
(1740-1745.) 

GERMAN history enters on a new epoch in the 
year 1740. In this year Frederick II. became King 
of Prussia, and Maria Theresa became sovereign in 
Austria. But the insatiable greed of increasing 
their power, which seems to have been inherent in 
the Hohenzollerns, impelled Frederick into war with 
Maria Theresa at the very beginning of their reigns, 
costing many thousands of men their lives and 
wasting many fair provinces. The occasion was 
this : — 

The emperor, Charles VI., died without male 
issue. His efforts had been directed during his 
reign chiefly to one point, to secure the Austrian 
dominions to his admirable daughter, Maria Theresa. 
To this end he contrived that an agreement should 
be signed both by the estates of the empire and the 
Austrian monarchy, and also by the reigning princes 
of Europe. This agreement was called " THE PRAG- 
MATIC Sanction." When Charles VI. died, in 
1740, Maria Theresa, who was married to Duke 
Francis of Lorraine, seized the reins of government 
of all the lands belonging to Austria, that is, Bohe- 

279 



2 8o THK TROUBLES OF A NOBLE QUE EX. 

mia, Hungary, Austria proper, Tyrol, Styria, Car- 
inthia, etc. But, in spite of the Pragmatic Sanction, 
various claims were made for several of these lands. 
The ambassador of Charles Albert, Elector of Ba- 




KREDERICK THE GREAT. 
(From a Drawing by Chodowiecki.) 

varia, entered Vienna to announce that his sover- 
eign could not acknowledge the young queen as 
heiress and successor to her father, because the 
House of Bavaria laid claims to the Austrian inher- 
itance. 

Frederick II. of Prussia, also, seeing that he had 



RUDE ROYALTY. 2 8l 

to do with a young and feeble woman, bluster- 
ingly demanded some of the Silesian principalities. 
As Maria Theresa had sufficient spirit to refuse 
these insolent demands war broke out, in which 
France, Spain, and Poland took part with Bavaria 
and Prussia against her. These wars go by the 
name of the "War of the Austrian Succession," 
and the ''Three Silesian Wars." 

Maria Theresa is one of the noblest and best of 
women who have made themselves a name in his- 
tory. In the spring of her life, nobly built, her 
dignity of majesty and charm of womanhood com- 
bined to turn the scale of her fortunes at the most 
critical period in her career. The Elector of Cologne 
acknowledged her only by the title of archduchess. 
The Elector Palatine sent her a letter by the com- 
mon post, superscribed, " To the Archduchess Maria 
Theresa," and the King of Spain refused her any 
other title than Duchess of Tuscany. Her hus- 
band was a poor creature, who treated her without 
regard, and was no strength to her in her trials. 
At first only the King of Prussia seemed to stand 
by her ; he promised his support whilst collecting 
his troops for a descent on Silesia. It was with 
surprise, therefore, that the young queen re- 
ceived an insolent demand for Silesia from the 
rude messenger of Frederick II. Even the minis- 
ters of the Prussian king blushed at their master's 
conduct. 

A battle was fought at Molwitz. The right wing 
of the Prussians was broken ; whereupon King 
Frederick galloped away as hard as his horse could 



282 TROUBLES OF A NOBLE QUEEN. 

carry him, in spite of the entreaty of his officers to 
stay, and never drew rein till he came to Oppeln, 
where, to his dismay, he found a party of Austrian 
hussars, who fired, but before they could gain their 
horses the king galloped back to his troops, and 
found to his astonishment that they had gained a 
complete victory during his absence. 

After this victory his insolence was unbounded. 
The English sent an ambassador to mediate, and 
spoke of magnanimity. " Magnanimity ! Bah!" 
he shouted, " I care only for my own interests." 
Maria Theresa offered to yield three duchies in 
Silesia. " Before the war they might have con- 
tented me. Now I want more," said Frederick. 
" What do I care about peace ? Let those who 
want it give me what I want ; if not, let them fight 
me, and be beaten again." 




XLVIII. 

THE QUEEN'S BABY BOY. 

(1741-1748.) 

WHEN things had come to this pass, the Elector 
of Bavaria, supported by the French, advanced his 
claims by force of arms. He marched upon Vienna. 
At Linz he had homage done to himself as Arch- 
duke of Austria. He was within three days' march 
of Vienna, and Maria Theresa was without an 
army, for that in Silesia was held in check by Fred- 
erick of Prussia. Her treasury was empty. She 
fled from her capital to Presburg in Hungary, 
convoked the magnates, and appeared among them 
attired in Hungarian costume, the crown of S. Ste- 
phen on her head and his sword at her side. Radi- 
ant with beauty and spirit she addressed the diet, 
and called on the nobles as cavaliers to stand by a 
woman in her jeopardy. Then she held up her 
baby boy in her hands before the assembly, and 
the tears came welling out of her beautiful eyes. 
Then came the answer. The whole diet rose 
and flashed their swords from their scabbards, and 
as a roll of thunder, " Moriamur pro rege nostro, 
Maria Theresa ! " (" We will die for our sovereign, 
Maria Theresa.") 

283 




MARIA THERESA. 
(From a painting by Kilian.) 



284 



A BRIEF REIGN. 



285 



In England the unprovoked aggression of the 
King of Prussia had excited general indignation, and 
Parliament granted 300,000 pounds to the queen. 

In a short time a considerable army of Hun- 
garians and Croats was assembled, which in a few 
weeks cleared Austria of the Bavarians and French, 
and pursued them into Bavaria, and took the capi- 
tal, Munich. The French, who were in possession 
of Prague, were blockaded, but broke out in the 
depth of winter and escaped over the snowy fields, 
leaving their course strewn with frozen corpses. 
Out of forty thousand men who had entered Bohe- 
mia only 3000 survived the miseries of the retreat 
and returned to France. 

But the Austrians opposed to Frederick II. had 
been less successful. The king defeated them again, 
and then, alarmed at the gathering power of Maria 
Theresa, concluded a peace with her, by which she 
made over to him a large portion of Silesia. 

On the very day on which the Austrian army 
entered Munich the elector was crowned emperor 
at Frankfort, under the name of Charles VII., but 
the new emperor was unable to show himself in 
his own dominions. His reign was short, and full 
of trouble, which he had brought on himself. The 
war continued, with varying fortune. George II. of 
England himself took part in it at the head of an 
army of Hanoverians and Hessians, which, united to 
the imperial army, gained a signal victory over the 
French at Dettingen. The news of the victory 
reached Vienna before the queen heard it. She 
was far down the Danube, but on her return she 



2 86 THE Q I EEX 'S BABY BO Y. 

found the banks for nine miles lined with people 
cheering, the cannon on the fortifications were boom- 
ing, and the bells of the churches pealing. She 
entered her capital in a sort of triumph, and went 
at once to the Cathedral to return thanks to God. 
Shortly after, other good news came to her: Egna 
Neumarkt was taken, and all her hereditary posses- 
sions were secured to her. 

Frederick II., " the Great," was uneasy at these 
successes, and feared that Maria Theresa would be 
demanding back the Silesian duchies. Accordingly, 
with great secrecy, he intrigued with the English, 
and drew them away from the Austrian alliance, 
and then suddenly and unexpectedly invaded Bohe- 
mia, and defeated the imperial generals in several 
battles. He was greatly helped by a Very odd man, 
a relative, the Prince of Dessau, a rough soldier, 
gaunt in shape and long in limb. Prince Eugene 
was wont to call him the " Bull-dog." He would not 
let his sons have a tutor, as he said he wanted them 
to make themselves, and not to be manufactured by 
others. He had a French chamberlain, called Cha- 
lesac. One night the prince came in very drunk, 
and his chamberlain ventured to remonstrate with 
him. The " old Dessauer " seized a pair of pistols, 
and aiming at Chalesac's head, roared, " You dog! 
I will shoot you ! '' " Do so if you will," answered the 
chamberlain, " but it will look ugly in history." The 
prince thought a moment, laid down the pistols, and 
said, "Yes, it would not read respectably." One 
day, in church, the preacher gave out the first verse 
of a hymn : — 



AN ANGR V PRINCE. 2 S 7 

•' Neither hunger nor thirst, 
Nor want nor pain, 
Nor wrath of the Great Prince 
Can me restrain." 

The prince, thinking he was alluded to, grasped 
his walking-stick, and made a rush up the pulpit 
stairs to thrash the pastor for his insolence. The 
minister screamed, " Sire ! I mean Beelzebub, Beel- 
zebub, not your highness ! " and scarce pacified the 
furious prince, and saved his own hide. 

The first Silesian war was from 1740 to 1742. The 
second war was from 1744 to 1745, and was con- 
cluded by the treaty of Dresden, whereby Maria 
Theresa was once more compelled to cede Silesia 
to the victorious Prussian. In this year the em- 
peror, Charles VII., whom Maria Theresa had re- 
fused to recognize, died, whereupon her husband 
was elected emperor, under the title of Francis I. 
Maximilian, the son of Charles VII., received back 
the duchy of Bavaria, and gave up his claims on the 
Austrian inheritance. 

In 1748 peace was concluded at Aix, whereby 
Maria Theresa lost two provinces in Italy. Silesia 
was already lost, as you have heard. 

You have not heard of the fighting that went on 
in Italy, but the war had raged there, as well as in 
Germany and the Netherlands, and the King of Sar- 
dinia had been the queen's great adversary in Italy. 



XLIX. 
THE HARDSHIPS OF A YOUNG PRINCE. 

Frederick William I.,* King of Prussia, the 
father of Frederick the Great, was a brutal, hard man, 
but not without some good points in his character. 
He hated ceremony, but not ceremony only, — the 
very decencies of life. His great amusement was to 
get foreign guests into his Tcvbagie, or smoking-room, 
and there ply them with beer till he made them sick. 
He despised and hated learning, and when Baron 
Gundling, a very learned man, was invited to dine 
with the king, Frederick William had an ape intro- 
duced, dressed exactly like the savant, and made 
the ape sit by him at table. To show his scorn for 
learning, he moreover insisted on having Gundling, 
when he died, buried in a cask, instead of a coffin. 
His daughter, in her memoirs, says, " My brother 
Frederick told me that one morning, when he went 
into the king's room, our father seized him by the 
hair, flung him down, and after he had exhausted 
the strength of his arm on the boy's poor body he 
dragged him to the window, took the curtain rope, 
and twisted it round his neck. The prince had 



* Frederick William I. was grandson of Frederick William, " the 
Great Elector." 

288 



ROYAL WHIMSIES. 



289 



presence of mind and strength to grasp his father's 
hands and scream for help. A chamberlain came 
in and plucked the boy away from the king." 

As Frederick William was riding round Berlin 
one day he saw a poor Jew slink out of his way. 
He stopped, seized him, and asked him his reason. 
" Sire ! I was afraid of you ! " said the scared He- 
brew. The king caught him by the nape of the 
neck, and, laying on to him with his riding whip, 
with fury roared, " Love me ! You shall love me ! 
I'll teach you to love me! " 

His great ambition was to make of Prussia a war- 
like state. His recruiting officers went everywhere, 
securing very big men for his grenadier guard, 
whom they obtained by the most underhand means. 

He hated the French, their language, their cul- 
ture, their manners, and to show his detestation 
of them he ordered the jailors to be dressed in the 
last Parisian fashions. 

The young prince, Frederick, was hated by his 
father because the boy was timid, and shrank from 
him. He mistook this timidity for cowardice, and 
sought to make the poor child love him by beating 
him, after the way of his teaching the Jew. The 
young Frederick took eagerly to French, read 
French books, and played the flute. Unfortunately, 
the books that fell in his way were those of Vol- 
taire, who held up religion and morality to ridicule, 
and scoffed at all that Christians hold sacred. 
Frederick was forced by his father to attend long- 
winded Calvinist sermons. He was denied innocent 
pleasures, such as his flute, and the result was that 



290 



THE HARDSHIPS OF A YOUNG PRINCE. 



he became, whilst quite young, dissipated and unbe- 
lieving. The king went out of his way to insult 
the prince in public, and 
to show him and all the 
court how he hated him. 
But when the king tried 
to force him to surrender 
his claim to succession to 
the throne, the prince re- 
plied, " I would rather 
have my head cut off than 
abandon my right/' 

At last the situation 
became intolerable, and 
when, finally, the king 
was about to marry Fred- 
erick against his will, the 
prince resolved to fly to 
his uncle, the King of 
England. His sister, 
Wilhelmina, and two 
friends, Keith and Katte, 
were in the plot. He 
made his attempt to es- 
cape when attending his 
father on a journey to 
the Rhine. But the plan 
was divulged to the king, 
and he was arrested. 
When brought before his 
father, Frederick William was in such a fury that 
he drew his sword and would have run him through 




ONE OF FREDERICK-WILLIAM'S 

GRENADIERS. 



A BRUTAL FATHER. 2 Q1 

the body with it had not one of his generals who 
was present sprung between, caught the king's arm, 
and cried out, " Sire ! run me through if you will, 
but spare your own son." Then the prince was 
thrown into prison at Kiistren. His friend Katte 
was condemned to death, and the king forced his son 
to see his friend hanged before the window of his 
prison. Keith had saved himself by flight. The 
king had sentence of death pronounced against the 
prince. Then an old general exclaimed, " Sire ! if 
your Majesty will have blood, take mine, and wel- 
come ; but as long as I have a voice to raise in pro- 
test you shall not have that of the crown prince." 
The emperor, Charles VI., also interfered, and in- 
formed the king that the crown prince could only be 
condemned capitally at an imperial diet. "Very 
well," said the king, " then I will hold my own court 
on him at Konigsberg, which is outside the confines 
of the empire, where no one can control me." A 
faithful servant boldly answered, " Only God, sire, 
will be over you there, to call you to task for shed- 
ding your son's blood." At these words the king 
became grave, and said no more about the execu- 
tion of Frederick. 

All this while the prince was in close confine- 
ment. He had a hard bench for his seat, the floor 
for his bed, and he was fed on prison fare. At last 
he wrote a penitential letter to his father, acknowl- 
edging that he had done wrong, and promising 
not to be disobedient for the future. In order 
thoroughly to crush his obstinacy the king did 
not give him his freedom at once, but kept him 



292 



THE HARDSHIPS OF A YOUNG PRINCE. 



under watch at Kiistren for two years. At last, on 
the marriage of his sister Wilhelmina to the Prince 
of Baireuth, his father allowed him to return to 
Berlin. Father and son were reconciled, and 
thenceforth Frederick William called him his " dear 
Fritz." 

The king bought for him the castle of Rheins- 
berg, near Neu-Ruppin, for his residence. There 
Frederick spent the happiest days of his life. He 
collected the most famous men of letters about 
him, and devoted himself to science and music ; 
and he carried on a correspondence with Voltaire 
and other celebrated French philosophers and 
poets. Both father and son learnt to regard each 
other with mutual esteem, and Frederick William 
exclaimed in his last illness, " I thank my God 
that I shall have so worthy a successor; I shall die 
content." 

The treatment which Frederick had received left 

its fatal effects on his character; it made him hard, 

•selfish, and unscrupulous ; and so it came about that 

he behaved unworthily of a great man about the 

Silesian duchies. 




L. 



THE ARMY OF CUT-AND-RUN. 



(1756-1763.) 

Maria Theresa could not forget Silesia snatched 
from her unjustly. Moreover, the growth of the 
power and influence of Prussia was a cause of envy 
to other princes. Maria Theresa was able by this 
means to unite a large confederation against Prus- 
sia. France, Russia, and Saxony took part against 
it ; and it was proposed to deprive the king of his 
royal title, and reduce him to be merely Margrave 
of Brandenburg. Prussia succeeded in securing 
England as her ally. George II. himself disliked 
Frederick, and would willingly have continued the' 
alliance with Austria, but the English parliament 
ranged itself on the side of Prussia. Following his 
usual tactics of making cat-like leaps before his en- 
emies expected an attack, Frederick, without even 
declaring war, invaded Saxony, defeated the Aus- 
trians, and surrounded and captured a Saxon army. 
This was the opening of the Seven Years' War, or 
Third Silesian War. 

In this war Frederick proved himself a gen- 
eral of the first order. Although he had half 
Europe opposed to him, yet he was almost always 

2 93 



294 



THE ARMY OF CUT-AND-RUN. 



conqueror. He defeated the Austrians at Prague 
and Leuthen ; an imperial and French army was 
routed by him at Rossbach ; a Russian army was put 
to flight by him at Zorndorf. However, he met with 
reverses at Kollin and Hochkirch before the Aus- 
trians. Moreover, he lost the battle of Runersdorf 
when opposed to Austrians and Russians united. 
But in spite of all his heroism and his many suc- 
cesses Frederick would certainly have been over- 
whelmed in the end if the allies had not gradually 
withdrawn their assistance from Austria, till at 
length Prussia and Austria were left alone, face to 
face. As both were exhausted by the long war, 
peace was concluded at the hunting lodge Huberts- 
burg, in Saxony, and Silesia was left in the hands 
of Frederick. It remains Prussian to this day. 

Among all the great and remarkable battles 
fought in the Seven Years' War, that of Rossbach 
deserves special notice. 

Late in the year of 1757 Frederick the Great had 
advanced at the head of 20,000 men to the River 
Saale, to drive the French and a division of the 
imperial army out of Saxony. The latter were 
thrice as numerous as the Prussians, and rejoiced at 
the prospect of a battle with such preponderance, 
thinking that now at last they would be able to 
surround and crush the king. 

Frederick had encamped on rising ground. The 
French marched round the hill with their bands 
playing, thinking to enclose the Prussians. With 
the capture of the king they trusted to bring the 
war to an end. The Prussians remained motion- 






THE CHARGE OF SEIDLITZ. 



295 



less ; the smoke rose from their camp-fires , they 
were eating their breakfasts. Frederick was in the 
castle on the hill. He knocked a hole in the roof, 
climbed through, and sat there for an hour watch- 
ing the movements of the enemy, then he came 
down and ate a hearty breakfast. When he saw the 
heads of the enemy's columns opposite his left 
flank he gave the signal. At once the tents were 
furled, the soldiers sprang to arms, the drums rat- 
tled, the lines formed, the concealed cannon began 
to spout flame, and roar ; the cavalry general, Seid- 
litz, charged down the hill at the enemy, hurled 
himself at their ranks, and broke them before they 
had time to form into line of battle. The enemy, 
unprepared for such rapid movements, gave way 
in panic, and in less than half an hour the battle 
was won, with the loss on the Prussian side of not 
more than 300 men, whilst on the side of the allies 
4000 were killed and wounded, 7000, with eleven 
generals, were taken prisoners, and sixty-three can- 
nons and twenty-two standards fell into the hands 
of the conquerors. The French fled without re- 
forming, a broken, disorganized, panic-stricken rab- 
ble, and did not stop till they had placed the Rhine 
between themselves and the formidable Prussians. 
The popular humour nicknamed the French host 
thus defeated the Army of Cut-and-Run (Reiss- 
aus-Armee). 



*„., __,„,,. ih-ii n»TM|^m|||||^' M 


Si V<M(^r 


'ifc— '-^B 


~}\ W/ 


W^L 


V «i 


iBfts 


tlrir-^ 



LI. 



OLD FRITZ REPAIRS RUINS. 

AFTER the victorious conclusion of the Seven 
Years' War the king devoted his attentions to the 
repair of the ruin wrought by it. The war had 
caused his subjects terrible sufferings. It is said that 
14,500 houses lay in ashes, and so many men had 
been consumed in his armies that there were not men 
to till the fields, nor horses to draw the harvest 
wanes. In Saxony 100,000 men had perished of 
famine alone; in Bohemia 180,000 had died of 
hunger ; but Prussia and Silesia had suffered less 
from this cause, because the king and his minister, 
Schalaberndorf, had enforced the cultivation ol 
the potato. At first, great prejudice had existed 
against this useful tuber, but Frederick saw its value 
and insisted on its growth. As many as twenty 
thousand persons emigrated from Bohemia, from 
the trampled and burnt corn-fields, to eat the po- 
tatoes in Prussia and live. The king had the 
ruined villages rebuilt. He provided the impover- 
ished farmers with grain to sow, and he imported 
horses which he distributed among them. He 
had drains and canals cut to dry swamps, and he 
improved the roads. Every year he went the 
round of his land, to sec how it was prospering, 

296 




FREDERICK THE GREAT. 
(From the Painting by Bause.) 



297 



298 



OLD FRITZ REPAIRS RL'LXS. 



and to remedy abuses. When he saw a tract 
under cultivation which had before been moor or 
marsh, he was wont to say, " I have gained a new 
province." He encouraged science and art, built 
schools, and improved the administration of jus- 
tice. He was familiar with his subjects, always 
had an ear open to their grievances, and a hand 
ready to rectify them. He was specially fond of 
the agricultural population. He liked to go among 
them, talk to the farmers, and learn their wants 
and their opinions. Consequently, he was greatly 
beloved by them, and they spoke of him as " Father 
Fritz," or as " Old Fritz." His early acquaintance 
with the infidel writers of France had driven all 
belief in Christianity out of his heart, and, believing 
nothing, he was tolerant. When he heard of a 
dispute about some hymn-books, which was referred 
to* him as head of the Evangelical Church in his 
lands, he said, " Bah ! Let them sing what tom- 
foolery they like." 

As he did not believe in religion, he had, unfortu- 
nately, no trustworthy standard of right and wrong. 
At his court was a Scotchman, named Keith, a man 
so honorable, truthful, and good that Frederick 
said of him, " That man almost makes me believe 
in virtue." Whether his care for the good of his 
people sprang from mere selfishness, a knowledge 
that their prosperity secured his own power, or 
whether his heart was better than his principles, 
one cannot tell. We will hope the best. 

He had stooping shoulders, wore a three-cornered 
laced hat on his head, and a long pig-tail. His 



NECESSITY TO BE BUSY. 



299 



uniform was threadbare, blue with red facings. He 
wore short black breeches and long boots. Many 
droll stories are told of him. The people of Pots- 
dam stuck up a caricature, representing him with 
a coffee-mill in his lap at a street corner. He saw 
it as he passed. " Put it lower, that it may be bet- 
ter seen," said the king, and passed on. One of his 
guards, too poor to buy a watch, attached a bullet 
to his chain and wore it in his pocket. The king 
once asked him the time of day. The officer 
pulled out the bullet and said, " My watch points 
but to one hour, that in which I am prepared to 
die for your Majesty." After that, of course, Fred- 
erick handed him his own gold watch. 

The king was fond of snuff, with which he stained 
his clothes. Once when he met the Austrian em- 
peror, he assumed, out of compliment, the Austrian 
uniform of white embroidered with silver. But the 
snuff got over the cloth and made a sad mess of 
the beautiful suit. He looked at the officers in 
splendid trim who surrounded the emperor, and 
said, " Gentlemen, I am not clean enough for your 
company; I do not deserve to wear your colours." 

Here is one of his good sayings : " Nothing is 
nearer akin to death than idleness. It is not neces- 
sary that I should live, but it is necessary that 
whilst I live I be busy." As long as he lived he 
loved his flute, and when thinking over affairs 
of state he used to stride through the corridors 
and chambers of his palace at Potsdam playing on 
this instrument. 

By his prudent government he raised the king- 



3oo 



OLD FRITZ REPAIRS RUIXS. 



dom of Prussia to the level of Austria, Franca, and 
England, as one of the first-class powers in Europe. 
His army was certainly the best disciplined on the 
continent ; but he allowed the soldiers to.be flogged 
for small offences. Louis XV. supposed that the 
success of the Prussians was due to the cat-o'-nine- 
tails, so he introduced it into his army. But when 
one of the subalterns was ordered to flog a private 
he killed himself rather than do so. 

When Frederick the Great died in 1786 the news 
of his death filled Germany with sorrow. He left 
to his successor a flourishing kingdom with six 
millions of inhabitants, a splendid army, and a full 
treasury. 

Frederick well merited the appellation of " the 
Great," for he set a great example to the sovereigns 
of Germany. His unfortunate bringing up, which 
both hardened his heart and killed his faith, were 
the cause of his not being the greatest of modern 
kings, or of being really, as he was called in French, 
" Sans pareil." 







LIL 



THE DOINGS OF TWO HUNDRED PRINCES. 

When the Thirty Years' War came to an end there 
. -ere something like two hundred independent 
states in Germany, and the fashion set in to regard 
France as the pattern by which all must live and 
rule. The Thirty Years' War had nearly extin- 
guished culture in the land, and France was highly 
cultivated, consequently there was much excuse for 
the princes. Unfortunately, French culture was 
not sound at core ; it was a glittering soap-bubble. 

Louis XIV. was a great monarch, but in exactly 
the opposite way to Frederick II. Louis gained a 
splendid name, and ruined France, and sowed the 
seeds of the revolution which destroyed the throne. 
Frederick made Prussia prosperous, and planted the 
basis of his throne so deep that it has stood un- 
shaken, and has become the centre of the new Ger- 
man empire. The princes of the 18th century did 
not see the mistake Louis XIV. was making; we 
can, because we have history to teach us. None 
of the princes could escape the fashion of copying 
France. Even Frederick the Great felt its influence 
as you have heard, and its influence was pernicious 
to him. 

When Louis XIV. built his palace at Versailles 

301 



302 Wf£ DOINGS OF TWO HUNDRED PRINCES, 

and created a city in the midst of a sandy waste, 
most of the princelings of Germany followed suit, 
and sought to create towns in the most unsuitable 
places. 

George Samuel, of Nassau Idstein, unable to 
create a city in his diminutive county, resolved, at 
least, to call a village into being and give it his 
name ; so he erected Georgenborn on the top of a 
bald mountain. The village was built, and roads to 
it were engineered ; it was provided with a mayor 
and pastor, and then the wretched peasants were 
driven, by an edict of the count, from their old 
homes into the cold new houses. After a lingering 
life of thirty years, the successor of George Samuel 
issued an edict ordering the place to be destroyed, 
and its name to be blotted out of the map. But, 
queerly enough, just then a new industry had sprung 
up in Georgenborn, and the little village suddenly 
began to prosper. Georgenborn still exists, a mon- 
ument to all the world that villages are not to be 
created or extinguished by the caprice of rulers. 

More grotesque still was the attempt of Count 
William of Biickeburg, whose ambition it was not 
to have a palace and town like Versailles, but a 
fortress like Metz. His county was so small that 
a cannon-ball could cross it at a shot. At great 
expense he created a fortified place and mounted 
guns on the ramparts, but within were nothing to 
defend but a range of wooden huts, an observatory, 
and a potato field. 

You know by pictures, if you have not seen it, the 
beautiful castle of Heidelberg, the finest ruin of a 



MUSHROOM TOWNS. <* Q * 

palace in Germany. Heidelberg was the capital of 
the Palatinate, but the elector, Charles Philip, in 
1720, made Mannheim his capital. He built it 
entirely, taking a chessboard as his plan. In it is a 
hideous palace, and the town is placed on a dead flat 
piece of ground. Baron Pollnitz, who wrote his 
memoirs at the time, says, " I have seen partridges 
where are now palaces. The whole town is laid out 
in a most regular and charming manner; and it is 
without dispute one of the prettiest places in Eu- 
rope." How taste alters ! We should say it was, 
with the exception of Darmstadt, the ugliest. Duke 
Eberhard Louis of Wtirtemberg also transferred 
his capital from Stuttgard to a new town he built 
and called after his name, Ludwigsberg. The cost 
was enormous, and, what was more grievous, it was 
undertaken at a time of famine. When the founda- 
tions were laid bread was thrown among the starv- 
ing peasants to still their murmurs. The palace 
contains four hundred apartments. The city was 
planned in square blocks, like Mannheim and 
Darmstadt, with seven squares, eight gates, and 
three, parish churches. Now this town is only 
kept from falling into ruin by being converted into 
an arsenal ; but grass grows in the streets, and the 
palace is decaying. 

Karlsruhe was built by the Margrave of Baden- 
Durlach, Charles William, about his hunting lodge, 
which was in the depths of a forest, but which he 
converted into a palace. 

Baron Pollnitz says of this: " The present mar- 
grave, Charles, laid the plan and the foundation of 



3°4 



THE DOINGS OF TWO HUNDRED PRINCES. 



this city and its palace. Imagine the palace at the 
entrance of a great forest, in the centre of a star 
formed by thirty-two walks. Behind the palace is a 
lofty octagonal tower commanding the walks. On 
the other side of the palace is the town. Between 
the houses run five streets. The main street is in a 
line with the centre of the palace. At the end of 
the three chief streets, opposite the palace, are three 
churches, one for the Lutherans, another for the 
Calvinists, and the third for the Catholics." 

You will remember how that in the rococco period 
straight lines and stiffness were avoided ; now the 
fashion was run in the opposite extreme, everything 
was formal and regular. 

Darmstadt was rebuilt in the same detestable 
taste, about the same time, by the electors Louis I. 
and III., who laid out the town in the form it now 
wears. One street is just like another, one house the 
counterpart of another. At the head of the main 
street is the unsightly palace ; at the two ends of the 
cross street two unsightly churches, one for the 
Calvinists, the other for the Catholics. 

Those who did not build cities erected palaces. 
The Baron de Reichenbach, a Belgian traveller of 
the beginning of this century, says : " The princes 
seem to have been actuated by a feverish rivalry 
who should be best housed. No little potentate 
could pass. muster who had not his Louvre and his 
Versailles." 

At Wurzburg the bishop erected a splendid 
palace, the foundations of which were laid in 1720, 
although he had two others in the place, one the 



THE PALACE OF WURZBURG. 



305 



castle of Manenberg, the second only finished the 
year before he began the third. This new palace 
contains two hundred and eighty-four apartments, 
one devoted to a merry-go-round for the amusement 
of the prelate, his chaplains, and court on rainy 
days. The prince-bishop occupied a little carriage 
in the whirligig, hung with episcopal purple velvet, 
embroidered with the mitre and arms of the See. 





LIII. 



GOOD KING JOSEPH. 
(1780-1790.) 

AMONG all the German princes who ascended the 
imperial throne Joseph II. takes one of the first 
places. He was the son of Maria Theresa and 
inherited from her the good qualities which made 
her the darling of her people. This noble emperor 
devoted his whole life to the service of the state, 
and at a time when gambling was the rage never 
played for money. On the occasion of a visit to 
Versailles he declined to take a hand at cards. " A 
prince who loses," he said, " loses the money of his 
subjects." He was not a drinker or a gourmand. 
He loved music, and played the violoncello. He 
was eager to redress wrongs, almost too eager, for 
he made sweeping changes before his people were 
prepared to accept them, and Frederick the Great 
was right when he said that Joseph always took the 
second step before he made the first. 

From youth up he was a great admirer of Fred- 
erick, whom he took as his pattern in his attempts 
at amendment. When he met Frederick for the first 
time at Neisse, he exclaimed joyfully, " Now my 
wishes are fulfilled, as I have had the honor of em- 

306 






A ROYAL REFORMER. 2 Q7 

bracing this great king and general." After a 
second meeting Frederick said to those who sur- 
rounded him, " I have seen the emperor, and am 
satisfied that he will play a great part in the affairs 
of Europe. He was born at a most bigoted court, 
and has shaken himself free from superstition. He 
was nurtured in pomp, and yet has simple habits. 
He has had the incense of flattery burnt under his 
nose, and yet is modest. He glows with love of 
fame, yet sacrifices his ambition to duty. He has 
had pedants for teachers, yet his taste for the best 
books is healthy." 

You have been told how the princes built their 
new towns on plans of the strictest uniformity, 
making streets, houses, and churches all alike. 
Joseph II. tried to do the' same thing in governing 
his territories, and so showed that want of common 
sense which Frederick II. possessed, and which 
saved him from committing gross blunders. In 
the Austrian dominions ten principal languages 
were spoken, and each nation had its own laws and 
administration. Joseph formed the scheme of 
uniting them all into one and ruling all by one sim- 
ple system ; and of abolishing all distinctions of re- 
ligion, language, law and manners. In the Aus- 
trian monarchy there were thirteen governments. 
He suppressed these, did away with the local parlia- 
ments, made the German tongue obligatory in all 
the public offices, and allowed the officers only two 
years for learning it, and abolished old customary 
forms, cancelled charters, and suppressed privileges. 
He meant well. It was very difficult to govern 



308 GOOD A'/ XG JOSEPH. 

Hungarians, Bohemians, Germans, Moravians, Ital- 
ians, Flemings, Croatians, Tyrolese, Transylvanians, 
etc., by different laws, and it would facilitate gov- 
ernment greatly if they were all ruled directly from 
Vienna, by one system of government. But Joseph 
did not consider that these several nations mi^ht be 
warmly attached to their own laws and traditional 
customs. So, instead of doing good, he threw the 
system of government into great confusion. 

Then he drew up a catechism of government for 
the people to be taught in the schools, in which he 
reduced his laws to a sort of table of command- 
ments, which was profane and absurd. Here are 
some of his commandments. " Thou shalt not 
send hare-skins out of the country. Thou shalt 
not keep useless dogs. Thou shalt not plant to- 
bacco without permission." 

But though Joseph made mistakes, he did avast 
amount of real good. His heart was in the right 
place. He was conscientious and earnest in his 
desire to rectify abuses, but his head was not 
strong enough to show him where to stop. 

The peasants had been kept under by feudal laws, 
and were almost bondsmen. He removed their 
bonds and cancelled all the intolerable restrictions 
which kept them from prospering. He encouraged 
the schools, and extended and improved the system 
of education. He also reduced the number of mon- 
asteries and convents from over two thousand to 
seven hundred, and he abolished all those which 
were of no practical utility. Monks, friars, and nuns 
must either teach, preach, or nurse the sick. He 






H 



IMPRISONED CAPUCHINS. 



309 



would not allow any orders to remain which were 
idle. The principal religious orders were the 
Benedictines, who cultivated learning and kept 
schools; the Jesuits, who taught in schools and 
preached ; and the Franciscans or Capuchins, who 
lived on what they could beg. 

The Jesuits made themselves particularly obnox- 
ious by meddling with politics ; the Capuchins, re- 
cruited from the lowest of the people, were igno- 
rant, and great encouragers of superstition. The 
money and buildings acquired by the suppression 
of so many monasteries were devoted to useful 
purposes — schools, hospitals, libraries, etc. Joseph 
placed all the monasteries under the supervision of 
the bishops of the dioceses in which they were. 
This was an excellent rule, as hitherto they had 
been independent and gone their own way and 
did what they liked, without any control. The 
occasion of this was the discovery of great cruelties 
committed in a Capuchin convent in Vienna. One 
of the friars there, named Fressler, informed the 
emperor that there was a prison in it in which 
some of the friars had been kept locked up for 
many years. One had been there for fifty, another 
for forty, a third for fifteen, and a fourth for nine 
years. The emperor thereupon issued an inquisition 
and suppressed the begging orders. He lessened the 
revenues of the largest bishoprics, suppressed some, 
and created others, and granted the free exercise 
of their religion to all denominations. The Pope, 
Pius VI., alarmed at these high-handed proceedings, 
thinking he was going to emulate the course of 



310 GOOD KING JOSEPH. 

Henry VIII. of England, made a journey to Vienna 
to remonstrate with the emperor in person. Joseph 
received him with slight courtesy, and kept him al- 
most as a prisoner. He had the doors of his lodg- 
ing walled up, with the exception of the front door, 
over which a guard was placed, to prevent the Pope 
from receiving private visits and stirring up discon- 
tent. After spending four weeks without effecting 
anything, Pius at length departed with a heavy heart. 
The emperor accompanied him as far as the abbey 
of Mariabrunn, and two hours after the Pope had 
left its shelter he ordered the monastery to be 
closed, to show how little the Pope had influenced 
him. 

His arbitrary interference with the usages and 
liberties of his states led to revolt. Belgium re- 
fused to pay taxes, and declared itself independent. 
In Hungary there were risings of the people, and 
the emperor was forced to withdraw his orders for 
changes in that kingdom. He made Avar with the 
Turks and met with disaster. The hereditary do- 
minions of Austria were in ferment, and revolution 
threatened him on all sides. Under these disap- 
pointments his health and spirits gave way. Short- 
ly before his death he wrote of himself, " I know 
my own heart. I am convinced of the sincerity of 
my purposes, and I trust that, when I am gone, I 
shall be impartially judged." 

That impartial judgment has been arrived at by 
all historians. No one doubts the good intentions 
of Joseph II. ; no one admits that he had the sound 
judgment to carry them out prudently. Joseph 



KESUL T OF PREMA TURE REFORMS. 



311 



died in February, 1790, in his forty-ninth year. As 
he left no children he was succeeded by his brother 
Leopold, who had hitherto been Grand Duke of 
Tuscany. 

Leopold ascended the tottering throne to find 
himself surrounded with dangers. All parts of his 
vast dominions were agitated by intestine commo- 
tions, or were the scene of open rebellion, the fruit 
of Joseph's ill-considered or premature reforms. 
Although he reigned only a few years, yet his mod- 
eration and his sober judgment succeeded in pacify- 
ing the general agitation, and restoring confidence 
and content. All the good that Joseph had done 
survived him, and his mistakes were corrected. 




















__ 


ifflMb 


K^cp t 


ft vu«~r 


^S~ 


y^Wt 


li§P 


~3r 


^^^A 


«£ 








fw fi 






Lfl 


fm 





LIV. 



GENIUS COMES TO THE FRONT. 

The close of the 1 8th century was a period 
of great literary waking. In the rococco time 
the general unreality invaded and pervaded litera- 
ture ; but now a change took place, and men of 
real genius came to the front who have made them- 
selves imperishable names. The first to break 
away from the fantastic foppery of the rococco 
style was Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781), who, 
though he tried at first to study theology and med- 
icine, was destined to give his life to pure litera- 
ture. He ridiculed the imitation of French writers, 
and demanded that German authors should develop 
originality in thought and style. Calling attention 
to the genius of Kant and YVinckelmann, and op- 
posing the methods of Wieland and Klopstock, he 
urged that sentimentality should no longer infect 
religion nor frivolity debase art. He wrote Minna 
von Barnkelm, a comedy not free from the affecta- 
tions he opposed, and Emilia Galotti, a tragedy, in 
which he retold the story of Virginia but made the 
characters modern. His Laocoon is a critical dis- 
sertation on the limits of poetry and painting which 
has exerted and still exerts a vast influence every- 
where. Nathan der Weise is another powerful work 

312 






LESSING AND GOETHE. 3 r 3 

of his independent mind, in which, in the guise of a 
dramatic story, he sets forth the philosophy of his 
religion. 

Before Lessing died he saw the two greatest 
authors of Germany started on the literary career 
which has lent its chiefest glory to the period, — 
John Wolfgang von Goethe (1 749-1 832) and John 
Christopher Frederick Schiller (1759-1805). The 
former stands second only to our Shakespeare as a 
poet, and was a man of a wonderful genius marred by 
intense vanity. The son of a gentleman of some 
fortune, he was educated with remarkable thorough- 
ness, and his personal attainments and manners 
caused the world to expect great things of him. In 
spite of this there was much surprise when, in 1773, 
his drama, Gotz von Berlichingen appeared. It was 
followed the next year by The Sorroivs of Young 

WertJier. The literary world was intoxicated with 
the spirit of romanticism, and Germany entered 
upon a season of intellectual convulsion known as 
the Sturm und Drang, or storm and stress period. 
Gotz was founded upon the old story of the hero of 
the Iron hand, a strong and manly but lawless 
baron of the sixteenth century ; and the Sorrows of 

Werther wove into one texture the unhappy pas- 
sions of the author and those of a student whose 
sad story Goethe had learned. With considerable 
mawkish sentimentality was mingled much admira- 
ble description ; the language was wonderful, and 
the whole so well accorded with the vague longing 
and discontent of the age, that, as Carlyle says, " the 
heart and voice of all Europe loudly and at once 



14 



GENIUS COMES TO THE FRONT. 



responded to it." The romance was greedily read 
by young and old, and some young fools even fol- 
lowed Werther's example and took their own lives, 
in order to excite for themselves the pity so freely 
accorded to the hero of the story. 

At the invitation of the grand duke, Charles 
Augustus, Goethe went to Weimar in 1775 ; and 
there he afterwards made the acquaintance of Schil- 
ler, whom he so warmly appreciated for his pure 
and healthy genius and noble mind, that he called 
the period a "new spring-tide" in his life. In this 
little place without trade or manufactures, Goethe 
was worshipped by everybody, especially by the 
women ; but the great men of the nation, too, 
gathered about him, and Weimar became a sort of 
German Athens. The poet gave himself up at first 
to social enjoyment, but afterwards he engaged in 
study, though for several years he published little. 
His study, travels, and varied experience in life bore 
fruit, however, and in after years ' he produced 
novels, poems, and plays that challenged the admira- 
tion of the world. Among his great works are the 
romantic drama Egmont , the tragedy of IpJiigcnia 
von Tanris, the melancholy reverie Torquatus 
Tasso, and the idyllic epic Hermann and Dorothea, 

If Goethe's genius did not culminate in his wonder- 
ful poem founded upon the fable of Faust, in which 
with melody, wit, pathos, mystery, reverence, and 
irony he depicted the disenchantment of the intel- 
lect, it reached its greatest expression in his songs 
and ballads, the spontaneous outgushin^s of his 
mind in every variety of mood. Charming in sim- 



SCHILLER MEE TS 6 OE THE. o T 5 

plicity, grotesque, weird, and haughty by turns, they 
are certainly human feeling " married to immortal 
verse." The genius of Goethe was recognized in 
England as well as at home, and on his last birth- 
day fifteen representative writers there, including 
Scott, Southey, Carlyle, and Procter, united in send- 
ing him a greeting accompanied by a seal, on which 
were engraved the words from one of his own 
poems, Ohne Hast, Ohne Rast, without haste, with- 
out rest. No contemporary had so much influence 
upon literature, and no other German author at all 
compares with him in this respect. Carlyle said 
that he and the first Napoleon were the two great- 
est men of their day, and that Goethe was " intrin- 
sically of much more unquestionable greatness" 
than the conquering soldier. 

Schiller was at many points a contrast to his 
older contemporary. Without the exceptional ad- 
vantages of Goethe he had prepared himself by 
stealth for the career of a poet. As early as his 
nineteenth year he had begun to compose a drama, 
afterwards published as The Robbers, which startled 
the literary world by its impassioned and fascinat- 
ing eloquence, and is said actually to have induced 
some persons of fortune to become amateur out- 
laws. He did not visit Weimar until his twenty- 
eighth year, and when he and Goethe met there 
was a mutual repulsion. He wrote to a friend that 
between persons of such different views of life no 
substantial intimacy was possible. Though each 
avoided the other the substantial intimacy grew, as 
has been intimated, and was fruitful for Germany. 



316 GENIUS COMES TO THE FRONT 

The one stood for the tyranny of the intellect and 
the other for the loveliness of the affections. 

Among the works of Schiller were the long drama 
of Wallensteitii in three parts, of five acts each, ob- 
viously too long for acting; Mary Stuart, The Maid 
of Orleans, The Bride of Messina, and William Tell. 
Though deservedly renowned as a dramatist Schil- 
ler is probably best known by his poems, among 
which The Song of the Bell, The Diver, The Glove, 
The Cranes of Ibycus, and Rudolph of Hapsburg are 
perhaps the most familiar. Schiller reflected the 
ideal yearnings of his age, and sought to encourage 
men to love and be led by the good, the beautiful, 
and the true. When he died, at the early age of 
forty-five, Goethe exclaimed, " In losing my friend 
I have lost half of my being." Thirty-seven years 
later he calmly breathed away his own life, saying, 
" More light ! " words that have sometimes been 
thought to express his longing for something better 
than this life afforded. 

While Goethe and Schiller ruled in the kingdom 
of letters they were surrounded by many disciples 
and imitators, as well as by original thinkers, who 
advanced every branch of learning. Humboldt and 
Ritter cultivated geographical science ; Herder and 
the brothers Schlegel went deep into history and 
criticism ; Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and Kant car- 
ried the fame of German philosophy over the 
world ; Ranke and Niebuhr presented history in 
new phases ; Schleiermacher and Neander discussed 
deep principles of theology ; Jean Paul Richter 
soared to the mysterious heights of transcendental- 






MjJ 



ORCHESTRAL MUSIC. 



3*7 



ism; and Hoffmann, Fouque, and Tieck revelled 
in the realms of the imagination. If the rulers 
were royal the subjects were truly worthy of them. 
Music, which began to become a great art in the 
rococco period, now sprang into full perfection. 
Some of the greatest musical geniuses of the world 
belong to this period : Mozart, Gliick, Haydn, and 
Beethoven. All of these wrote church music ; 
Haydn composed the beautiful oratorio The Crea- 
tion ; Gliick wrote operas on classic themes ; Mo- 
zart took more popular subjects ; Beethoven wrote 
one opera only, Leonore or Fidelio. Mozart's music 
is exquisitely melodious, but lacks the massiveness 
possessed by that of Beethoven. Mozart died at 
the age of thirty-five ; poor Beethoven became deaf, 
gloomy, and distrustful in his old age. With these 
composers the orchestra became of much greater 
importance than formerly. Handel, the great mas- 
ter of the previous generation, scarcely knew any- 
thing of the power and properties of the various 
instruments ; but now they were brought into use, 
parts were written for each, and all were woven into 
a whole, blending and governed by one idea, but 
each acting separately from the others. This may, 
therefore, be said to be the epoch of the develop- 
ment of orchestral music. 



LV. 



AN UPTURNING IN FRANCE. 



LOUIS XIV. was succeeded on the throne of 
France by his great-grandson, Louis XV., aged 
only five years and a half. On the death of the 
king the Duke of Orleans, as first prince of the 
blood, was appointed regent. The duke led a prof- 
ligate life, and set a bad example, which was only 
too readily imitated by those at court. By his 
extravagance he raised the national debt to danger- 
ous proportions. This wretched condition of affairs 
did not mend when Louis XV. attained his major- 
ity. The young king thought of nothing but his 
pleasures, and left the management of the affairs 
of state to his ministers and favourites. 

At this time it became the fashion to be, or to af- 
fect to be, vicious, and to scoff at religion and mor- 
ality. Many authors took up the pen to write 
profanities and to turn Christianity, the clergy, and 
virtue into ridicule. 

At the same time writings were distributed 
among the people showing up the badness of the 
Government, and urging the abolition of abuses 
and the introduction of reforms. The vices of 
the court, its extravagance, the growth of the 
national debt, the burden of taxation falling on the 

318 



INFLUENCE OF AMERICA. 



319 



people made the latter ready to accept these teach- 
ings. Both the nobility and the clergy at this time 
had very extensive privileges. Neither paid taxes, 
so that the whole burden fell on the farmers and 
tradesmen. This was a grievous injustice. It had 
been redressed in England long ago by the nobil- 
ity, voluntarily. In France and in Germany it 
remained as an intolerable wrong. Most powerful 
of all was the example of the English colonies in 
North America, who, in 1783, separated them- 
selves from their mother country, and founded 
a republic. 

France, intent on weakening her ancient foe, had 
sent numbers of her sons to America, where they 
had fought against the English, and these returned 
to their native land full of the novel ideas of liberty 
and of enthusiasm for a republican form of gov- 
ernment. They contrasted the fresh virtue of the 
new institutions in the United States with the de- 
crepid corruption of the French crown. 

Thus it came about that there grew up in what 
was called the Tiers etat, or Third Estate — i. e., the 
people themselves — an intense anger and bitterness 
against the nobles and clergy, who paid no taxes, 
and against the crown, which sanctioned such 
abuses. 

In this time of agitation of spirits Louis XVI. 
came to the throne of France. He was married to 
Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa, and 
sister of Joseph II. The accession of Louis XVI. 
was greeted with great acclamations of joy from the 
people, for they hoped that with it would come 



320 



AN UPTURNING IN FRANCE. 



relief from their crushing taxation, and a return to 
better times. Louis, a well-intentioned, blameless 
man, with his heart full of love for his people, and 
desirous to be a just and good ruler, lacked the 
mental power and the energy of character to grap- 
ple with an evil of such long growth, and to take 
decisive and subversive measures. His queen was 
fond of gaiety, and by her example countenanced 
the most lavish extravagance. She was only fif- 
teen when she was married, and at Versailles she 
was surrounded by frivolous and pleasure-seeking 
courtiers, who hid from her the truth, so that she 
probably had no idea of the real condition of af- 
fairs. She was only nineteen when her husband 
became king. She was a good woman, tenderly 
attached to her children and husband. She was 
very beautiful, and much flattered, and this per- 
haps a little turned her head. 

The evil condition of affairs increased to a fear- 
ful degree. The exchequer was robbed by those 
who had charge of it ; the taxes would not suffice 
to cover the outlay ; and the king, almost reduced 
to the necessity of declaring the state bankrupt, 
demanded aid from the nobility and clergy, who, 
hitherto free from taxation, had amassed great 
wealth. The aristocracy, blind to their true inter- 
est, refused to comply, and by so doing compelled 
the king to have recourse to the Third Estate. 

Accordingly, in 1789, he convoked a general as- 
sembly, in which deputies sent by the citizen and 
peasant classes were not only numerically equal 
to those of the aristocracy, but were their supe- 



MftJ 



THE BASTILLE STORMED. 



321 



riors in ability and energy. When the nobility 
and clergy refused to share the burden of taxation, 
and even declined to sit together with the com- 
mons, the deputies of the Third Estate separated 
from the other two houses and declared themselves a 
competent national assembly. Many of the nobil- 
ity and the majority of the clergy, feeling the 
justice of the cause of the people, united with them, 
and gave up their privileges. The members of this 
assembly met in the Tennis Court of the palace of 
Versailles, and there swore not to separate till they 
had given a new constitution to the realm. The as- 
sembly was thenceforth called the Constitutional 
Assembly. The men who most distinguished them- 
selves at this conjuncture were Count Mirabeau, the 
Abbe Sieyes, and the Count of Lafayette. 

The news of this decided step created violent 
agitation in Paris, and the people broke loose. 
On June 14th, 1789, a mob attacked the Bastille, 
an ancient strong castle in Paris that served as a 
prison, took it by storm, and levelled its walls with 
the dust. Soon after, armed bands of men and 
women rushed off to Versailles, burst into the pal- 
ace, where they killed several of the guards, and 
forced the king to come to Paris. The National 
Assembly also, at the same time, transferred its 
sessions to Paris. Emboldened by its first successes 
the Assembly now undertook a thorough transfor- 
mation of the state, and in order to attain the object 
for which it had been assembled, that of procur- 
ing supplies, declared the aristocracy subject to tax- 
ation, and sold the enormous property belonging to 



322 



AN UPTURNING IN FRANCE. 



the Church. All distinctions and privileges were 
abolished, and all Frenchmen were pronounced equal. 
It went further still. The people were declared the 
only true sovereign, and the king the first servant 
of the state. 

At the first outbreak of the revolution the two 
brothers of the king and many of the nobility fled 
the country. All through France the peasants rose 
and set fire to the chateaux, and burned the ar- 
chives containing the title-deeds of the nobles to 
their lands. The Assembly continued its work. It 
divided France into eighty-three departments. It 
published a list of the rights of men without say- 
ing anything about their duties. Everywhere dis- 
turbances became worse. The royal family, feeling 
no longer safe, attempted to fly, but were arrested at 
Varennes and brought back as prisoners to Paris 
(July 23, 1791). 

The rabble had now completely got the upper 
hand. At midnight of the 9th of October they 
broke into the Tuilleries, the royal palace, massa- 
cred the gallant Swiss guards who defended the 
king, and clamoured for his deposition. That 
he and his family might not fall into the hands of 
these savages the king, with the queen and his chil- 
dren, escaped to the hall where the National Assem- 
bly was collected, at nine o'clock in the morning 
of the 10th. The Assembly declared the king 
provisionally deprived of his functions, and con- 
signed him and his family to the Temple, one of 
the prisons of Paris. All the adherents of the king 
were then secured and thrown into the prisons. 




LEOPOLD II. IN THE IMPERIAL ROBES. 



323 



324 



AN UPTURNING IN FRANCE. 



Leopold II., Emperor of Austria, and Frederick 
William II., King of Prussia, now prepared for war. 
The French forestalled them by declaring war. The 
King of Prussia, at the head of 50,000 of his own 
men and 30,000 Austrians, took Longwy, and ad- 
vanced upon Verdun and Champagne. The news 
filled the rabble with fury. The Jacobins, as the most 
extreme of the revolutionists were called, from a club 
into which they had formed themselves, cried out, 
" Our most dangerous enemies are not the Germans 
at Verdun, they are to be found at Paris in our 
prisons." Thus instigated, the mob burst into one 
place of detention after another, and for four days 
in succession massacred all they found in them. 
The same horrors were perpetrated at Lyons, 
Rheims, Meaux,and Versailles. The massacre began 
on Sept. 2d, and the same day Robespierre was 
elected to the National Convention, as the third 
national assembly was designated. 

To protect the frontiers against the allied sover- 
eigns, and to carry the war into their territories, the 
Assembly ordered armies to advance. The French 
at once invaded the Netherlands and defeated the 
Austrians at Jemmapes. The Republican soldiers 
entered Brussels, pillaged the Netherland cities of 
all that was valuable, and after doing this effectually 
proclaimed liberty and equality and the rights of 
men. Another French army advanced to the Rhine 
and secured Mainz. 

The alliance of the German sovereigns against the 
Revolution precipitated the fate of the king. The 
National Convention condemned him to death, and 




FREDERICK WILLIAM II. OF PRUSSIA- 
(From the painting by Schroder.) 



325 



326 AN UPTURNING IN FRANCE. 

the execution was fixed for the 2ist February, 1793. 
After a heart-rending parting from his wife and 
children Louis XVI. mounted the scaffold with 
dignity and Christian resignation. On reaching the 
platform he advanced to the breasting to address 
the people. " Frenchmen," he said, "lam guiltless 
of the crimes whereof I am accused. I forgive 

o 

those who have brought me to my death, and I 
pray God that the blood you are about to shed may 
not be required of France." His address was cut 
short by the rattle of drums. He allowed his hands 
to be bound without an attempt at resistance ; and 
as the Abbe Edgeworth, his confessor, exclaimed, 
" Son of S. Louis, mount to heaven ! " the axe fell. 
Then there was a rush of the people. They burst 
through the guards to sop their handkerchiefs in 
the royal blood. Thus died Louis XVI. His 
prime minister, Necker, a Swiss, said of him, " He 
was a sovereign good to the heart's core. He loved 
his people as a father loves his children. He did 
what was right when he saw what was his duty, and 
how to discharge it. He was a ready help to all in 
trouble. He released the peasants from serfdom, 
and abolished the irksome feudal duties. He put a 
stop to torture, and had the prisons placed under 
proper supervision and put into decent order. He 
restored to the Protestants their citizen rights. His 
whole life was spent in doing good. He suffered, 
not for his own sins, but for those of his forefathers. 
His people were, during the latter years, blinded to 
his excellence, and allowed his enemies to do what 



MARIE ANTOINETTE EXECUTED. ^ 2 7 

they willed with him. He died a martyr to his 
virtues." 

The execution of Louis was followed by that of 
the queen in October. She was taken to the scaf- 
fold in a cart, with her hands tied behind her. She 
was scarce 38 years old when she died. 






LVI. 



THE MAN FROM CORSICA. 



The news of the execution of the king filled all 
Europe with horror and indignation, and in France 
several towns and the province of La Vendee rose 
against the National Convention. Most of the 
European powers formed an alliance against the 
French Republic (the 1st Coalition, 1793), and their 
armies advanced on the frontiers. A very speedy 
termination to the Republic might have ensued had 
not the powers been filled with rivalries, and had 
their forces been led by competent generals. The 
Duke of Coburg was at the head of the main body 
of the Austrians in the Netherlands, and he was 
reinforced by the English and Dutch. With their 
aid he drove the French out of the Netherlands, but 
instead of advancing at once on Paris he dawdled 
in the Low Countries, issuing manifestoes and invest- 
ing Dunkirk. The Duke of Brunswick, in command 
of the Prussians, retook Mainz, but owing to the 
jealousy felt by the King of Prussia at the union of 
the English with the Austrians was not allowed to 
go forward. 

In the spring of the following year the emperor, 
Francis II., visited the Netherlands, with the inten- 
tion of pushing straight upon Paris. This project, 

328 



ROBESPIERRE THE BLOODTHIRSTY. 329 

practicable in 1793, was now utterly out of the 
question. The French had massed their armies to 
protect the frontier, and the Prussians had with- 
drawn in a sulk. The French sneered, " The allies 
are always wool-gathering, and wake up a year too 
late." 

In face of the danger that menaced the Republic, 
on April 6th, a Committee of Public Safety was 
appointed at Paris, and the lives, the freedom, 
and the property of all the citizens were placed in 
the hands of this committee. They could condemn 
to death whom they would'. At the head stood 
Robespierre, a cold, bloodthirsty man. 

Now executions went on without cessation. No 
one was safe. The more moderate members of the 
Convention (the Girondists) were sent to the guillo- 
tine. Blood poured in streams, not in Paris only, 
but in all the large towns of France. Any one, on 
the faintest suspicion, was arrested, and once arrested 
his fate was sealed. 

The Republic then turned its attention to repel 
the enemies at its doors. The English were beaten at 
Toulon. The Spanish, who had crossed the Pyrenees, 
retired over them again. The Prussians were de- 
feated by Hoche and the Austrians by Jourdan 
The Prussians, full of jealousy of the Austrians, with- 
drew from the alliance, and concluded peace with the 
Republic, basely surrendering to France the whole 
left bank of the Rhine. Belgium was overrun and 
annexed to France, Holland formed into a republic 
under its protection. England remained inert. 
Only Austria abided unshaken. The French crossed 



330 THE MAN FROM CORSICA. 

the Rhine and invaded Swabia ; were encountered 
by the Archduke Charles, and defeated him. The 
French took Stuttgart and Frankfort. Then the 
Austrians succeeded in breaking to pieces the invad- 
ing army, and as it retreated the peasantry rose 
in a body and hunted the soldiers down. 

In the mean time the Reign of Terror at Paris 
had come to an end. Robespierre had raged with 
such frightful bloodthirstiness, putting to death 
every one whom he considered an opponent, spar- 
ing not even Republicans of as advanced views as his 
own, that at last his own adherents were afraid for 
their lives, and the more moderate united against 
him. He was accused, a majority formed to con- 
demn him, and he was dragged to the guillotine, a 
cowardly, quaking wretch, with a broken jaw, hav- 
ing tried, ineffectually, to shoot himself when sen- 
tenced to death. 

A fresh constitution was now issued, and five 
men were appointed as Directors of the Republic. 

Among the many able generals possessed by 
France at this period Napoleon Bonaparte stood 
pre-eminent. He was the son of a Corsican lawyer, 
and was born at Ajaccio. As a boy he had shown 
a love for military studies. In his sixteenth year 
he entered the artillery in Paris as sub-lieutenant, 
and at the age of six-and-twenty he was nominated 
commander of the army of Italy. He found there 
that the soldiers were in a pitiable condition, with- 
out food, money, or clothing, dissatisfied and dis- 
organized. But Napoleon was not one to be 
daunted. " Soldiers," he said, " you are badly fed, 



CROSSING THE ALPS. 



331 



naked, and miserable among barren rocks. I will 
lead you down into the richest plains in the world. 
Great cities full of wealth, whole provinces will fall 
into your power ; in them you will acquire all you 
want — fame, treasure, repose. Soldiers of the Army 
of Italy, with this prospect will your hearts fail ? 
No ; surely not. Forward ! " and, in fact, in a surpris- 
ingly short time he conquered the greater part of 
Italy and converted the provinces that came into 
his power into republics. The Austrian armies 
sent against him were led by incompetent generals, 
who were perfectly incapable of winning success 
opposed to so consummate a genius as Bonaparte. 

In the mean time the Austrian army, under the 
command of the gallant Archduke Charles, the 
brother of the emperor, Francis II., had, as you 
have heard, defeated the French in Wurtemberg 
and the Black Forest, and driven them back across 
the Rhine. 

In January, 1797, the Austrian general, Alvinzi, 
met a crushing defeat in Italy, with the loss of 
20,000 men taken prisoners. At the same time 
another general, Wurmser, was forced to capitulate 
at Mantua with 21,000 men. 

As soon as the snow began to melt on the Alps 
Bonaparte prepared to march up the Isonzo, cross 
the Alps, and penetrate to Vienna. In his alarm 
the emperor recalled the Archduke Charles from 
the Rhine, but he had only the fragments of the 
discouraged troops of Alvinzi to lead. " Hitherto," 
said Napoleon, " I have been fighting armies without 



»->2 THE MAX FROM CORSICA. 

generals, now I have to fight a general without an 
army." 

A battle took place in the mountains at Tarvis, 
high up on the pass into the Gail Valley, after- 
wards called "the battle above the clouds." The 
archduke, with a handful of Hungarian hussars, 
defended the pass against sixteen thousand French, 
and did not turn to fly till only eight of his men were 
left. The archduke retired to Glogau, where he 
collected five thousand men, and again barred the 
way against the French, and held his ground with 
dauntless heroism till only two hundred and fifty 
of his men remained. 

But now the archduke's troops, whom he had led 
to victory on the Rhine, were coming to his aid. 
The republic of Venice had made an alliance 
with Austria, and Napoleon was threatened in his 
rear. The brave Tyrolean peasants were up in arms, 
and routed his troops as they tried to push for- 
ward. The archduke hoped now to nip Bonaparte 
in the mountains, and crush him. But, with in- 
conceivable folly, the emperor's advisers at Vienna 
threw away this unique opportunity. They were 
so panic-struck at the advance of Bonaparte that 
when he, conscious of the predicament in which he 
stood, to gain time, sent overtures of peace, not in 
the least supposing the Austrian ministers such 
fools as to accept them, they actually snapped at 
the proposals, and were in haste to get a treaty 
concluded. When Bonaparte saw the timorous sort 
of men with whom he had to deal he assumed a 
more defiant tone. The plenipotentiary of Aus- 



TREA TV OF CAMPO FORM 10. 



333 



tria was Count Cobenzl, who had been much in the 
service of the Empress of Russia, and had presented 
Bonaparte a beautiful and costly vase from Cath- 
erine, the Empress of Russia. Cobenzl was a 
witty playwriter, and immediately after some un- 
pleasant piece of state business he produced a 
comedy full of fun. "I suppose," said the em- 
press, " Cobenzl, you are waiting to kill us with laugh- 
ing till you hear that the French are in Vienna?" 
This was the man sent into Udine to treat with 
Bonaparte. Now the latter was in far greater straits 
than Cobenzl supposed, for the Directory in Paris 
were getting jealous of him, and refused him more 
soldiers, and he knew very well that he could not 
get any further through the Alps where the passes 
were guarded by brave mountaineers, ready to roll 
down rocks on his troops, and excellent shots were 
lurking .behind every stone and tree to pick off his 
officers. However, he put a bold face on the 
matter, and when Cobenzl made some demur to one 
of his demands Napoleon took up the porcelain 
cup the Empress Catherine had sent him, and 
dashed it to atoms on the floor. " There," said he, 
" take my terms, or I will shatter your precious 
monarchy like this vessel." 

Cobenzl was too much frightened at the threat to 
stand out. A treaty was drawn up and signed, called 
the Treaty of Campo Formio, on October 17, 
1797. By this the emperor ceded to France the 
whole of the west bank of the Rhine, Flanders, and 
the Lombard provinces, but received in exchange 
the territory of Venice and the archbishopric of Salz- 



334 



THE MAN FROM CORSICA. 



burg. Now this concession of Napoleon was part 
of his cleverness ; he wanted by all means in his 
power to rouse up the jealousy of Prussia against 
Austria. You know that among children one be- 
comes spiteful if another gets one slice of bread 
and jam more than itself, — so is it with nations. 
Prussia was consumed with anger and envy when 
it heard that Austria was to gain that rich merchant- 
city, Venice, and consequently would have noth- 
ing more to do with Austria against the common 
enemy. 

When the news reached Paris the French Re- 
publicans liked the idea of the cession of Venice to 
Austria almost as little as did the Prussians ; but 
Napoleon quieted them. " Pshaw ! " he said, " it is 
only for a bit." The result of this clever stroke soon 
became apparent. The Prussians sent an army into 
Franconia, and seized Nuremberg and several other 
towns. She also entered Westphalia, annexing 
it, and stirred up Hesse - Cassel to grasp part 
of Schaumburg-Lippe. That same year Frederick 
William II. died, and was succeeded by his son, 
Frederick William III., who continued the same 
shameful and dishonourable policy of playing the* 
game of France against the only upholder of the 
German name and honour, the Emperor of Aus- 
tria. 

Whilst Austria was lulled into peace the French 
overran Switzerland and converted it into a repub- 
lic under their protection ; and thus this great 
barrier which had protected the Austrian frontiers on 
the side next France was thrown down. The peace 



CONFERENCE AT RASTADT. 



~> ^ - 



concluded by Napoleon at Campo Formio had to be 
ratified, that is, agreed to by all the powers con- 
cerned, and a meeting was appointed to be held at 
Rastadt, which had been the residence of the mar- 
graves of Baden. In it is a red sandstone palace ; 
to this palace the envoys were summoned to meet 




KARL WILHELM, BARON VON HUMBOLDT. * 
(From a Drawing- by P. C. Stroehling.j 

in 1797, and there they sat haggling over terms till 
April, 1799, when the congress was broken up without 
coming to any agreement, in the way you shall hear. 
The French envoys demanded all that had been 
granted by the treaty of Campo Formio, and agreed 
that, to indemnify the German princes, these latter 
should seize on all the remaining ecclesiastical prin- 
cipalities in the land, as the archbishoprics of Salz- 
burg, Mainz, and Cologne, the bishoprics of Minister, 

* See page 316. 



33 6 



THE MAN FROM CORSICA. 



Wiirzburg, Bamberg, Eichstadt, etc. But they 
went further. Not content with the west, or left, 
bank of the Rhine, they now asked for some places 
on the other bank as well. 

Whilst the negotiations were in progress, France 
was collecting men and material for prosecuting the 
war. At Rastadt their principal envoy was Talley- 
rand, a man who had been a bishop, but had cared 
little for Christianity. He was a man of extraordi- 
nary talents, and cunning as a fox. He was able 
to do without sleep, and when asked how that 
was, he showed that his pulse throbbed, then 
stopped for some seconds, and then throbbed again. 
He said that his nature recruited itself in these 
"pauses. With him were three others, Robert, Bon- 
nies, and De Bry, from the dregs of the people, 
coarse, insolent, rapacious men. The German 
princes, all eager to make good terms with the 
French for themselves, bribed these French envoys 
to put in a good word for them ; these scoundrels 
pocketed their money and insulted them for their 
folly. On the 1st of March, however, whilst negotia- 
tions were still in progress, the French crossed the 
Rhine, under Jpurdan, and entered Wiirtcmberg. 
The brave and able Archduke Charles met and de- 
feated them, and Jourdan was obliged to recross 
the Rhine to Strasburg, where he left his army 
and returned to Paris. The insolence of the envoys 
and their outrageous demands at Rastadt had 
aroused great anger in the people, and a tumult 
broke out in Vienna, in which the tricolour, floating 
above the residence of the French ambassador, was 



THE FRENCH IN EGYPT. 



337 



torn down and burnt. The Congress of Rastadt 
broke up in haste. As the envoys were leaving the 
place some hussars rushed out of a wood upon the 
carriage and killed two of them. 

Against England alone had the French hitherto 
been unable to deal crippling blows. In order to 
hurt English trade and to menace her Asiatic pos- 
sessions Napoleon was sent with an army into 
Egypt. There he was victorious on land, every- 
where ; but Nelson, with the English fleet, fought 
and completely destroyed the French fleet lying in 
Abukir Bay. Whilst Bonaparte was in Egypt the 
French armies met some serious disasters on the 
Rhine and in Switzerland. The Directory at Paris 
was, moreover, weakened by the various parties 
squabbling together. 

Bonaparte now left his army in Egypt and slipped 
across the Mediterranean unperceived by the Eng- 
lish, landed in France, was appointed generalis- 
simo over all the army, and at once upset, with the 
aid of his soldiers, the government, and appointed 
himself and two others as Consuls. This, was in 
1799, when the SECOND COALITION of European 
powers was formed against France, consisting of 
England, Russia, and Austria. 

Inspired by Napoleon the French troops gained 
victory after victory. He crossed the Alps at the 
head of a new army, before the Austrians were 
aware that he was in motion. With that incon- 
ceivable folly which seemed to pervade the coun- 
sels of the Austrian ministry the Archduke Charles 
had been deprived of his generalship and sent into 



i3» 



THE MAX FROM CORSICA. 



Bohemia, and the command of the forces given to 
Marshall Kay. Suddenly Napoleon appeared in 
Lombard)', and on June 14, 1800, gained such a 
decisive victory at Marengo that the Austrian 
army was forced to lay down its arms. The whole 
of Italy fell once more into the hands of the 
French. And now, instead of recalling the able 
Archduke Charles, the command-in-chief was given 
to the Archduke John, a lad of eighteen, without 
experience and without genius. On the 3d of Decem- 
ber this boy-general with his army was completely 
routed in the tremendous battle of Hohenlinden, 
more momentous even than that of Marengo in its 
military consequences. The shattered remains of 
the imperial army retreated behind the River Inn, 
followed by disaster. The Austrians lost 10.000 
prisoners and 100 cannon. But now the voice of 
the nation made itself heard. Where was the Arch- 
duke Charles ? Let him be recalled. Accordingly, 
he was ordered back from Bohemia. He flew to the 
rescue, but when, instead of the proud battalions he 
had led so often to victory, he found only a con- 
fused crowd of infantry, cavalry, and artillery cover- 
ing the road, filled with panic, lost to discipline, the 
tears rolled down his furrowed cheeks. In wain did 
he try to rally them ; they were too broken even to 
obey his voice. The French fell on the rear of the 
flying Austrians, and routed the rearguard with a 
loss of twelve hundred men, completing the demor- 
alization of the army. A few days later the news 
arrived of the defeat of the Austrian army in Italy 
at the passage of the Mincio. These disasters once 



TERMS OF THE PEACE. ^Q 

more inclined Austria to peace, which was concluded 
at Luneville (9th Feb., 1801). By this peace the 
whole of the left bank of the Rhine was again as- 
sured to France, and the petty republics established 
by France in Italy, Switzerland, and Holland were 
recognized. All but six of the free imperial cities 
were deprived of their privileges, the spiritual prin- 
cipalities were abolished, and many of the secu- 
lar princes were " mediatised," that is, lost their 
sovereign authority, though allowed to retain their 
titles. 



LVII. 



NAPOLEON AS EMPEROR. 



(1804.) 

As Consul, Napoleon governed in France with 
great vigour and discretion. By wise laws and 
beneficial measures he endeavoured to give prosper- 
ity to the land, and to heal the wounds caused by 
protracted wars. The Revolution had abolished 
Christianity, hung or guillotined the priests, and 
had forbidden the use of the churches for Christian 
worship. Napoleon, in concert with the Pope, re- 
stored the exercise of the Christian religion, and 
arranged for the organization of the church in 
France, at the same time that he allowed perfect 
freedom of conscience to Protestants and Infidels. 
The bishops were paid by the state instead of 
from the confiscated estates, and the clergy also, 
without restoration of the tithe. The monasteries 
and convents were not re-opened ; new schools 
were founded, and provision made for general ed- 
ucation. To encourage traffic, good reads and ca- 
nals were made. By these means Napoleon won 
the favour of the people. They were sick of the 
bloodshed of the Republican tyrants, and they 
breathed freely under the prudent rule of the First 

340 






THE REPUBLIC ABOLISHED. 34 x 

Consul. Moreover, his victories over the powers 
opposed to France flattered the vanity of the na- 
tion. These circumstances conduced to further 
his aim for supremacy ; but he did not dare 
take the title of king, which was still abhorrent to 
the people ; therefore he resolved to make France 
an empire, and renew in himself the splendours of 
Charles the Great's reign. On the 18th of May, 
1804, Bonaparte abolished the French Republic, 
and was elected hereditary emperor of France. On 
the 2d of December he was solemnly anointed and 
crowned by the Pope, Pius VII., whom he forced 
to come to Paris for the purpose. The ceremonies 
used at the coronation of Charlemagne were re- 
vived on this occasion. In March, 1805, he abol- 
ished the Italian republics and crowned himself 
with the iron crown of Lombardy. He formed the 
grand and daring scheme of converting the whole 
of Europe into one vast empire, with kings and 
princes over the several nations, all subject to him- 
self. 

In the mean time he sent an army into Hanover, 
and overran it. Prussia offered no interference, 
hoping by her neutrality to secure Hanover as her 
reward. England now persuaded Austria, Russia, 
and Sweden to combine again against France. 
This is called the THIRD COALITION, and was ef- 
fected in 1805. To her eternal disgrace Prussia 
kept neutral, and allowed the Fatherland to be rav- 
aged, because of her jealousy of Austria. 

Napoleon at once put himself at the head of an 
army and advanced to Ulm. Sixty thousand Aus- 



-> 42 NAPOLEON AS EMPEROR. 

trians were in the town under General Mack, an in- 
competent man, who, panic struck at the appearance 
of Bonaparte, capitulated without striking a blow. 
A body of 12,000, commanded by the Archduke Fer- 
dinand, made a bold attempt to break out, but all 
his infantry and the greater part of his cavalry were 
slain or captured, and a few hundred men alone suc- 
ceeded in cutting their way through the enemy into 
Bohemia. Where was the Archduke Charles at this 
time? Of course, where he was not specially 
wanted, in Italy, through no fault of his, but through 
the blundering stupidity of the emperor's council. 
After Mack's surrender, Napoleon, with his usual 
alacrity, marched with his main body straight upon 
Vienna, whilst he sent some detachments into the 
Tyrol to hold that in check, and entered the capital 
in November, before the Archduke Charles, who 
had been recalled, had time to arrive for its de- 
fence. In the mean time the Emperor Alexander 
I., of Russia, at the head of an army, approached 
through Moravia. Francis II. gathered together as 
many of his scattered troops as he could and joined 
Alexander. Both emperors appealed earnestly 
to Prussia to renounce its base alliance with France, 
and in this decisive moment to aid in the anni- 
hilation of the enemy, not of the Fatherland only, 
but of Europe. But no; the King of Prussia, hun- 
gering after Hanover, hoped to buy it by his neu- 
trality. On December 2, 1805, a famous battle, 
in which the three emperors of Christendom were 
present, took place at Austerlitz, not far from 
Briinn, and terminated in one of Napoleon's most 




ALEXANDER, NAPOLEON AND FREDERICK WILLIAM III. 
(From a contemporary picture by an unknown Artist.) 



343 



344 • XAPOLEON AS EMPEROR. 

glorious victories. Immediately Prussia threw in 
her part with France, secured Hanover, and in ex- 
change surrendered Cleves, Anspach, and Neufchatel 
to the French. The Austrians, utterly paralyzed, 
were unable to continue the struggle, and were 
forced to conclude a peace, called the Peace OF 
PRESSBURG, at enormous sacrifice. Austria lost 
Venice, Tyrol, and the Breisgau, a portion of land 
between the Black Forest and the Rhine. 

On his way east Napoleon had forced the dukes 
of Bavaria, Wtirtemberg, and Baden to unite their 
troops with his against the Austrians. Napoleon 
now rewarded them by elevating Bavaria and Wur- 
temberg into kingdoms, and by exalting the Duke 
of Baden into a grand-duke, and giving him the 
Austrian lands adjoining his own. 

On the 1 2th of July, 1806, sixteen German princes, 
of which. the principal were Bavaria, Baden, Wurtem- 
berg, and Hesse - Darmstadt, formally separated 
themselves from the German empire and declared 
themselves subject to the French emperor. This is 
called the Rhein-bund. Napoleon, to increase his 
own splendour, now erected the provinces dependent 
upon France into kingdoms and principalities, and 
bestowed them upon his relatives and favourites. 
His brother Joseph he made King of Naples; his 
brother Louis, King of Holland ; his step-son, Eu- 
gene Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy ; his brother-in- 
law, Murat, formerly a common soldier, Grand-duke 
of Berg ; his first adjutant, Berthies, Prince of Neuf- 
chatel. 

On the 6th of August, 1806, the Emperor Francis 






PRUSSIA CHASTISED. 345 

II. was forced to abdicate the imperial crown of Ger- 
many, and announce the dissolution of the empire 
in a touching address, full of stately sorrow. The 
last of the German emperors had shown himself, 
throughout the contest, worthy of his great ances- 
tors, and had, almost alone, sacrificed all in order to 
preserve the honour and independence of Germany, 
until, abandoned by the greater part of the princes, 
he was unable to continue the contest. 

Two years before, Francis II. had assumed the 
title of Emperor of Austria, i. e., of the Eastern 
Realm, and it remains to the House of Hapsburg. 

Now it was the turn of Prussia to be chastised. 
Now only did she awake to the fact that she had 
betrayed her best interests by not coming to the 
front with Austria. Napoleon seized the Prussian 
fortress of Wesel, and he insisted on the formation 
of a northern bund, like the Rhein-bund, under the 
protection of himself. Louisa, the beautiful Queen 
of Prussia, a Mechlenberg princess, had alone fore- 
seen the inevitable end, and had entreated the king 
to draw his sword against the conqueror. Now she 
redoubled her entreaties. The Emperor Alexander, 
of Russia, visited Berlin and joined his voice to that 
of the queen. The whole kingdom felt the shame 
that covered it, and at last war was declared (1806). 
But the spirit of Frederick the Great no longer an- 
imated the army he had created. The Prussians 
were defeated at Jena, and again at Auerstadt. 
Russia, which took the field at the same time, met 
bloody repulses at Eilau and Friedland. Na< 
poleon at once pushed on to Berlin, where he 



34^ 



NAPOLEOX AS EMPEROR. 



was received, not, as at Vienna, by the citizens with 
mute rage, but with loud demonstrations of delight. 
Men of high rank stood behind the crowd and urged 
them on to cheer, saying, " For Heaven's sake, give a 
hearty hurrah ! Cry, ' Long live the emperor ! " or we 
are done for." Many citizens pressed forward, 
eager to betray the public money and stores that 
had been concealed. " I know not," said Napoleon, 
" whether to rejoice at my success or to feel ashamed 
for this people." The noble-hearted and beautiful 
Prussian queen was treated with the grossest inso- 
lence by Bonaparte. He knew how earnest and ener- 
getic she had been in stirring up her husband against 
him. He visited the tomb of Frederick the 
Great, and gave vent over it to the most unbecoming 
expressions of contempt against his unfortunate 
descendant. 

The Prussian fortresses fell, one after another, 
during the autumn and winter, some from utter in- 
ability to maintain themselves, but the greater part 
because commanded by incompetent generals. 

At last, on July 9, 1 807, a conference was held 
at Tilsit between the sovereigns of France, Russia, 
and Prussia, whereby peace was concluded. Prussia 
was deprived of half her territory, which was con- 
verted by Napoleon into a kingdom of Westphalia, 
of which he appointed his brother Jerome ruler. 

In the year 1809 Austria again took up arms 
against Napoleon. The Archduke Charles had en- 
treated, after former disasters, that the army might 
be put on a better footing. Now, at last, his advice 
was attended to. But Austria had now opposed to 



THE PEACE OE VIENNA. 



\47 



her France, Bavaria, and the rest of the Rhenish 
Bund, and Saxony. In five battles in five consecu- 
tive days Napoleon defeated the archduke, and 
again the great conqueror entered Vienna. But 
now the brave archduke returned to the charge from 
Bohemia with fresh levies. A battle was fought at 
Aspern which lasted two days, the 2 1st and 22d of 
May, 1809, and for the first time Napoleon was de- 
feated. For some time the two armies continued 
watching each other ; at last, on the 5th of July, Na- 
poleon attacked the Austrians at Wagram, not far 
from Aspern. The fight was desperate, the valour 
of the Austrians splendid. They captured twelve 
golden eagles and standards of the enemy, and 
would have gained a victory had not the reserve 
which had been called up failed to arrive, owing to 
the dilatoriness of the Archduke John, who com- 
manded it. 

Two hours after the battle was over it arrived on 
the blood-stained field. Owing to this defeat Aus- 
tria was again compelled to negociate a peace, 
which goes by the title of " The Peace of Vi- 
enna." She had now to make additional sacrifices, 
to give up Carniola, Trieste, and Dalmatia to the 
French, and Salzburg and other portions of her pos- 
sessions in the Alps to Bavaria. The Tyrol also be- 
came Bavarian. During this heroic struggle of 
Austria against the tyrant, Prussia again remained 
inert. 



Ilp^ 


^9 


^^^^ 








ls*5 


^^ 




iawc 







LVIII. 

THE HEROES OF THE TYROL. 
(1809.) 

To this time belongs one of the most heroic and 
glorious achievements of modern history, — the ris- 
ing of the Tyrolean patriots against the French and 
Bavarians, under the leading of Andreas Hofer, an 
innkeeper, Speckbacher, a hunter, and Haspinger, 
a friar. 

Hofer kept a little tavern in the Passeyr valley 
that opens into the main valley of the Adige at 
Meran. The inn is at a place called " Sand," and 
so he went by the familiar name of the " Sand- 
host " (Sand-wirth). He was a tall, fine man, with 
brown, vivacious eyes, black hair, and a long, bushy 
beard, that reached nearly to his waist. His walk 
was measured and grave, his voice soft and clear, 
the expression of his features cheerful and serene. 
Without any pretence to eloquence, he had the 
gift of finding his way to the hearts of men and 
winning their confidence. His dress was the pict- 
uresque costume of his native valley, — a dark jacket, 
a scarlet waistcoat crossed by broad emerald-green 
braces, black chamois-leather breeches, and a belt of 
black leather, embroidered over with tiny threads of 

348 



A PICTURESQUE DRESS. 



349 



goose quill. On his head he wore a black goat's- 
hair steeple cap with broad brim, surrounded by 
twisted scarlet silk string. His stockings were of 
blue wool. Around his neck he wore a small crucifix. 
If ever you go to Meran you will see the peas- 




ANDREAS HOFER. 
(From a contemporary Engraving.) 

ants there on a Sunday and market day wearing 
the same beautiful costume. 

When Austria took up arms again, in 1809, 
against France and her German allies, she had not 
many regular soldiers to send into the Tyrol to defend 
it, and the defence had to be entrusted to the peas- 
ants themselves, who had shown what they could 
do, as you may remember, just before the Treaty of 



35o 



THE HEROES OE THE TYROL. 



Campo Formio. In the resistance then offered, 
Hofer and Speckbacher had distinguished them- 
selves. 

On the 7th of April little slips of paper, on which 
were written only the words " It is time," were cir- 
culated through the Tyrol. As the river Inn rushed 
along it whirled on its milky waters bits of wood 
with red flags stuck into them. The peasants knew 
the signal, caught their weapons, and the whole of 
the mountain region was in insurrection against the 
enemy. On the south side of the Brenner pass, the 
main road from Innsbruck to Italy, in the green 
basin of a dried-up lake, stands the quaint old town 
of Sterzing. The mountains tower above it, and up 
the Ridnaun valley the eye looks to glorious ranges 
of ice peaks. Into this basin marched the Bava- 
rians on their way south to Brixen, where was 
another Bavarian force. When they were in the 
plain, the Tyrolese, commanded by Hofer, poured 
down from the mountainsides around, and attacked 
them. This was their first battle in the open coun- 
try. The Bavarians formed square, and poured a 
shower of lead into their advancing ranks. They 
hesitated. Then a young girl with a shout drew 
forward a waggon load of hay towards the enemy. 
The Tyrolese followed with two others. They 
threw over the loads in a line, and lying behind the 
hay fired into, the mass of their enemy. The hay 
had made a wall of shelter for them. The Bavarians 
wavered, broke, and with a shout the peasants 
charged them over the hay heaps, and took them 



A SECRET KEPT. 



35* 



prisoners. They were carried to a castle that 
stands on a height overlooking the plain. 

Then every trace of the battle was removed, for 
the news reached the peasants that the French and 
Bavarians together were marching up the valley 
from Brixen. Hofer made the townspeople prom- 
ise him not to say a word of what had happened ; 
and when the united army arrived and wondered 
what had become of the Bavarians who had been 
ordered to meet them there, no one told them 
what had taken place. Next day they recom- 
menced their march, and were no sooner involved 
among the rocks and pines than bullets and stones 
poured down on them, and terrible were their 
losses as they struggled through, unable to reach 
and dislodge the enemy. 

On the nth of May a French force, under Gen- 
eral Lefebvre, and a Bavarian force, under Devey, in- 
vaded the Tyrol ; but already had the gallant Tyrolese 
stormed Innsbruck and taken Hall, where were large 
stores for the army, and had cleared the Inn Valley 
of the enemy, led by Speckbacher, and South Tyrol 
had been freed by Hofer. 

On the nth of May also a Bavarian force, under 
Wrede, advanced from Salzburg upon the Tyrol 
through the Strub pass. This is a long and gloomy 
ravine, shut in between abrupt walls of rock. The 
road zigzags up among dark pines, around promonto- 
ries of rock, high above a brawling torrent. The 1 ith 
of May, that year, was Ascension Day. It was brill- 
iant with sunshine ; the slopes were blue with gen- 
tianella and sprinkled with the delicate pink primula. 



352 



THE HEROES OE THE TYROL 



They were soon to be deepened dark red with 
blood. Holding the pass were 350 brave peasants 
with two small cannon, six-pounders. A few miles 
behind was an Austrian general with regulars, but. 
like so many of the old generals in the Austrian 
service at that time, he was half asleep, and so be- 
wildered as not to know what to do when the op- 
portunity of doing anything offered. As Napoleon 
said of them, " They are asleep when their eyes 
are open." Wrede had 14,000 well-disciplined sol- 
diers and several cannon. When he saw that the 
pass was guarded he poured a volley and played on 
the defenders with his big guns ; but they neither 
heeded nor replied. Then he ordered a charge. 
At once the two little field-pieces blazed, and the 
unerring guns of the peasants were discharged. The 
Bavarians went down in heaps ; the rest recoiled, and 
the wounded staggered to the edge and fell down 
the gulf into the thundering stream far below. For 
five hours the fight continued, and then a shell in- 
jured one of the little cannon. Eight times did the 
Bavarians come on and were repulsed, and now their 
ammunition began to fail. A ninth attack was made, 
and at the same time a detachment, sent around by a 
circuitous path, fell on the brave Tyrolese behind. 
Then the battle was concluded by the enraged 
Bavarians butchering the wounded peasants who 
had fallen on the road they had held so heroically. 
Only a few escaped, but they had killed some 1500 
of the enemy. You must remember that at this 
time Napoleon was at Vienna, and held in his grip 
the heart of Austria. The Archduke Charles was 



A WOMAN WITH A CASK. 



353 



in Bohemia, whither he had fled after the five battles, 
on five consecutive days, in which he had tried to 
arrest the onward roll of Napoleon. Austria was 
in such distress that she could not help the Tyrol. 
She was forced to withdraw from it the few regiments 
of regulars left there. The peasants had only 
themselves to look to. Innsbruck, their capital, was 
in the hands of the Bavarians. The Tyrolese were 
resolved to recover it. On May the 29th was fought 
one of the most remarkable battles in the war, the 
battle of Berg Isel, in which the hardy moun- 
taineers defeated, and drove out of the town, the 
well-trained army of invaders. Due south of Inns- 
bruck the road to Italy runs over a level plain for 
about a mile and a half, passing a large abbey, called 
Wilten. Then there rises from the plain a hill, 
Berg Isel, up which the road winds. On this hill, 
occupying the Brenner road, were the Tyrolese, 
and here the three leaders, Hofer, Speckbacher, 
and Haspinger, united. The Bavarians not only 
held Innsbruck, but the whole left bank of the Inn 
as far as Hall and Volders, some 6 or 9 miles down 
the river. Speckbacher opposed them at this point, 
that is, he and his men formed the right wing of 
the patriot army. The Bavarians crossed the Inn 
at once at Hall and at Volders. Speckbacher im- 
mediately fell on them at Volders and drove them 
back ; then, leaving a detachment to destroy the 
bridge, he flew to Hall, where some Austrian regu- 
lars were opposed to the Bavarians, and drove them 
back again. During the fight here a young woman 
ran among the Austrians and Tyrolese with a lit- 



it a THE HEROES OF THE TYROL. 

tie cask of wine on her head, and a mug in her hand, 
giving them drink. A bullet struck the cask, 
entered it, and the wine began to run down her 
cheek and neck. " Quick, quick ! " cried the brave 
girl, "drink away, my hearties ! before another ball 
finishes the wine and waitress." Speckbacher was 
rushing over the bridge when he found his little 
boy at his side. In vain did he urge the child to 
go back ; the gallant little fellow would be in the 
thick of the fight beside his father. Speckbacher 
had to box his ears and severely rebuke him before 
he would retire ; and then he occupied himself in 
collecting the bullets that fell about him for his 
father's gun. Three times did the brave Speck- 
bacher lead the charge ; at last a reserve body came 
up, the Bavarians were beat back, and then Speck- 
bacher led his men to the assistance of Hofer in 
the centre, at Berg Isel. Here a furious contest 
was going on ; and here it was that Haspinger, the 
friar, turned the tide of battle. Father Haspinger 
wore the snuff-coloured robe of his order, with a 
cord knotted round his waist, bare feet and sandals. 
His head was bare ; he had red hair and a long, thick- 
red beard. In his hand he carried a stick, and on his 
breast a little black cross. He had no weapons. 
Above Berg Isel are two villages, Mutters and 
Natters, and these were in the hands of the Bava- 
rians. After two hours hard fighting the enemy 
was driven from them down the hill towards the 
plain. But this would not have happened but for 
Haspinger. Seeing the Tyrolese falter, then 
break and begin to fly, the brave Capuchin friar 






AMMUNITION SPENT. 3-5 

roared to them, as he waved his staff, " Good-bye ! 
Good-bye ! Brothers, I go forwards to the throne of 
God to accuse you of cowardice." They were 
ashamed and returned to the charge. The bullets 
whistled around their leader, but none touched him. 
A Bavarian soldier rushed forward with a curse to 
run him through with his bayonet ; the friar 
knocked the gun out of his hands with his alpen- 
stock. Next moment he would have fallen, pierced 
through, had not a rifleman, perceiving his danger, 
fired over his shoulder at the Bavarian, thereby 
singeing the Father's beard. Then forward with 
shouts of joy rushed the Tyrolese, and drove the 
Bavarians down on the Inn. Now that the left 
wing had succeeded, as well as the right, Hofer in 
the centre pushed forward, and the Bavarians, re- 
tired precipitously into the town. The ammunition 
of the peasants was spent; they were unable to fol- 
low up their success, and during the night the Bava- 
rian general slipped away from the town with the 
remnant of his army. After the battle of Wagram, 
Austria was obliged to consent to a truce, which 
was to lead to the Peace of Vienna, by which the 
Tyrol was to be given up to Bavaria. This had 
been agreed to on July 7th, at Znaym ; but the Tyro- 
lese obstinately refused to be transferred to Ba- 
varia, and prosecuted the war. 

General Lefebvre, who had been a miller's boy, 
and had become a field-marshal of France, and had 
been created by Napoleon Duke of Danzig, was 
sent, at the head of a large army of French, Bava- 
rians, and Saxons, into the Tyrol, to subdue it thor- 



356 



THE HEROES OE THE TYROL. 



oughly. He occupied Innsbruck, and then marched 
over the Brenner Pass to Sterzing, on his way to 
Brixen and Botzen. He intended to quiet the South 
of Tyrol. At the same time an army was sent up 
the valley of the Inn, which was to go through 
the Finstermunz Pass above Landeck, descend 
the Adige, and meet him at Botzen. 

The first to 2^0 forward were the Saxons. Thev 
were allowed to advance as far as a very narrow 
defile, called the Sack, where there is a wooden 
bridge near a precipice of rock that rises above 
the road. The peasants passed the bridge and set 
it on fire as the Saxons came up, and as they 
halted, hesitating what to do, suddenly there came 
a rumble, then a roar, and an avalanche of rocks 
and stones poured down on them from the cliff 
overhead. A thousand men, among them forty- 
four officers, were lost in the Sack. When the 
Duke of Danzig heard this he was very angry, and 
ordered the rest of his troops forward. He had 
been lodging at the little inn of " the Nail," at Sterz- 
ing, and grumbled at the poor breakfast he had re- 
ceived. " It matters not," he said to the hostess. 
" I shall have a famous dinner to-day at Brixen." 
But he was met at the Sack by the dauntless peas- 
ants, who poured their fire upon his advancing col- 
umns, and showered rocks on him from the sides 
of the pass, and the army was obliged to fly back to 
Sterzing in confusion. As the duke returned, 
angry, humiliated, exhausted to the inn, he found 
his hostess at the door. She court si ed, and with 
a twinkling eye, asked, " I hope your Grace has 



AUSTRIA ABANDONS THE TYROL. yj 

enjoyed your famous dinner to-day." The army 
sent round by the Finstermiinz met a like dis- 
aster, and the broken fragments of both armies 
were forced to retreat into the Inn valley. There, at 
Innsbruck, Lefebvre, the duke, concentrated 25,000 
infantry, and 1000 horse, and 40 pieces of artillery. 
After them, flushed with victory, poured the gal- 
lant Tyrolese. Another battle was fought on Berg 
Isel ; again were the patriots commanded by Hofer, 
Speckbacher, and the friar, and again were they 
victorious. The Tyrolese lost 132 wounded and 50 
killed ; they took 6000 prisoners and killed 4000 
men, and Lefebvre was obliged to retire. 

The Peace of Vienna was signed, and Austria 
was forced to abandon the Tyrol. She could not help 
herself. Her powers of resistance were exhausted. 
But the Tyrolese would not acknowledge it. Ac- 
cordingly, fresh bodies of men were sent into the 
Tyrol to subdue the mountaineers-. They continued 
the desperate struggle, but against the enormous su- 
periority of numbers could not make headway. 
The French and Bavarians held the main roads, and 
all the towns, and could starve them into submission. 
Another battle was fought at Berg Isel, but this 
time the valour of the patriots could not win them 
victory. At last a former friend betrayed Hofer 
to the French, and, to the eternal disgrace of Napo- 
leon, he had the brave man shot in cold blood. 
Speckbacher, later, was rewarded by the Austrian 
emperor, and Haspinger would have been rewarded 
had the humble friar consented to receive anything 
at his hands. 



LIX. 



THE MARCH OX MOSCOW. 



(1812.) 

THROUGH his defeat of the Prussians and Aus- 
trians, Napoleon had reached the highest point of 
his career. No power but England dared to defy 
him. The great fleet of England harassed and de- 
feated the French navy. Napoleon tried what he 
could to hurt England. He forbade all trade with 
Britain, and the sale of English wares. All the 
harbours of the continent were closed against 
the English, so as to kill their trade and manufact- 
ures. However, the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, 
refused to consent to have his ports thus shut ; ac- 
cordingly, the French dictator determined on war 
with him. 

Napoleon strained every effort to make this 
gigantic undertaking successful. At the head of 
600,000 men, in the summer of 1812, he crossed the 
Russian frontier. But before doing this he con- 
voked all the princes of Germany to Dresden, 
where he lectured them with such insolence as 
even to repel his warmest partisans. Tears sprang 
into the eyes of the Empress of Austria and the 
Queen of Prussia ; the princes and kings bit their 

358 



A MYSTERIOUS ST/LLA'ESS. 



359 



lips with rage at the petty humiliations and coarse 
affronts put on them by their powerful but mo- 
mentary lord. The army led by Napoleon against 
Russia was principally composed of German troops, 
who were skilfully mixed up with the French, so 
as not to be themselves aware of their numbers. 
Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Hessians, Bavarians, 
Wtirtembergers, Badeners, Swiss, Flemings, even 
Portuguese, Spaniards, and Italians, went to make 
up this great host, which was destined to whiten 
with its bones the plains of Russia. In order to 
secure his rear Napoleon garrisoned the Prussian 
fortresses with French troops, and the Prussians 
sent forward to fight in Russia were commanded 
by French officers. Sixty thousand French held 
Prussia, whilst the sons of Prussia were sent to die 
in arms for their conqueror. Now bitterly did she 
feel the consequences of her baseness. 

No enemy opposed the invading army. The 
Russians retired before Napoleon without striking 
a blow, leading him on deep into their dreary 
plains. 

On the 7th of September, after a march of over 
two months, the army came in sight of the cupolas 
and towers of Moscow. A mysterious stillness 
reigned in the great city of the Czars. None ap- 
peared with the keys to lay them at the feet of the 
invader ; no crowd of curious sight-seers poured 
out of the gates to gaze on the mighty conqueror. 
The town was deserted. Napoleon took up his 
quarters in the Kremlin, the ancient palace of the 
Czars. All at once fire broke out in various quarters 



360 THE MARCH ON MOSCOW. 

of the town. An autumn storm fanned the flames, 
and in a short time the whole city was a waving, 
roaring sea of fire. Every attempt to extinguish 
the conflagration was in vain ; the very Kremlin 
kindled. The Russians had themselves accumulated 
the combustibles in their houses and set them on 
fire, and sacrificed their glorious city so as the more 
surely to work the destruction of the French army. 
Now Napoleon's overwhelming pride proved 
his ruin. Instead of leading his army south into 
fertile lands for winter quarters at once, he waited 
among the ashes of Moscow till the middle of Octo- 
ber, in daily expectation that the Emperor of Russia 
would send humbly to him, entreating peace. 
Finding that no appeal came ; hearing the winds of 
winter begin to howl, and seeing the snowflakes begin 
to fall, he sent overtures of peace to Alexander. No 
answer came. All at once inaction disappeared. 
His cavalry were surprised and defeated with great 
loss. The frosts began to set in, the ice to form 
over the pools. Faster and faster fell the snow. 
Now Napoleon found that he had an enemy ranged 
against him that he was unable to defeat and insult — 
winter. Now, when too late, he resolved on retreat. 
The winter of 181 1 had been unusually mild ; that of 
18 1 2 set in unusually early, and with unwonted 
severity. Provisions failed. The vast plains were 
white and deep in snow, and as the army retired 
the Cossacks hovered around them with their long 
spears like musquitos, maddening and torturing 
them. The horses died by thousands. The numbed 
and weary soldiers flung away their arms. The 
grand army was reduced to a cowering, starved, 



A TERRIBLE RETREAT. 



361 



frightened wreck. Gaunt forms of famine, wan, 
hollow-eyed, wrapped in strange garments of misery 
to keep out the cold — skins and women's clothes — 
with long beards, dragged their faint limbs along, 
fought for a dead horse, murdered each other for a 
morsel of bread, and fell over in the deep snow, 
never again to rise. Numbers fell into the hands of 
the Russian boors, who stripped them and drove 
them out into the snowdrifts. When at last they 
reached the Beresina, which had to be passed, a thaw 
had set in, and the river rolled down broken blocks 
of ice. At the same time the Russians appeared on 
their flanks, charging them with spears, pouring can- 
non shot among them, hewing them down with their 
sabres. Two bridges were hastily built, and over 
them poured the terrified, flying rabble of soldiers. 
They crowded on one another, trampled one another 
down. The railings gave way, and many were precip- 
itated over the sides ; others were run down by the 
horses, and crushed under the wheels of the cannon 
carriages. Then, to complete the disaster, the bridges 
themselves broke, and the stream of human beings, 
forced on by those behind, fell into the ice-cold 
whirling river to perish in its waves. Those who 
did not reach the shore were made prisoners. 

On the 5th of December Napoleon deserted his 
army, leaving it to take its chance, escaping on a 
slide. With his flight all discipline ended ; soldiers, 
and officers, and generals all sought only individual 
safety. Of the great army led into Russia not one 
twentieth part returned in safety. The mighty host 
of the conqueror was totally annihilated. 











^jBbl 


K?«fep-^^55^S^SNr^jt* 






^^ftffjk^ 




lyiRilNk?^^ Tl '' c * 




2'jjr 












_ y^^^Mf 




^^^^^*^^^^*" fc tt^«e*^^ 




li^bi 







LX. 



NAPOLEON FALLS AND GERMANY RISES. 



THIS unexpected disaster of the Emperor Napo- 
leon seemed to Europe a sign from heaven that the 
hour of emancipation had struck. The first to 
recognize this was Prussia. In February, 1813, the 
king; met Alexander of Russia and concluded an 
alliance with him. But Berlin was in the hands of 
the French. Now, however, the whole Prussian 
nation, eager to throw off the hated yoke of the 
foreigner, to wipe away the dishonour of her past, 
cheerfully hastened to place their lives and property 
at the service of the impoverished government. The 
whole of the able-bodied population was put under 
arms. Every heart bounded with hope and pride. 
The king and emperor issued a proclamation appeal- 
ing to all Germany to rise against the common enemy. 
It found an echo in every German heart. Warning 
was sent to Napoleon of the menacing temper in 
the land. " Pah ! " he exclaimed, " Germans can't 
fight like Spaniards." However, he levied a French 
army 300,000 strong, which so overawed the Rhenish 
Bund that their princes actually again called to- 
gether thousands of their subjects to go with Na- 
poleon against their brothers in the North. Mech- 

362 




CLEMENS WENZEL, PRINCE VON METTERNICH. 
^From a Painting by Th. Lawrence.) 



3 6 3 



364 NAPOLEON FALLS AND GERMANY RISES. 

lenburg alone sided with Prussia. Austria was too 
exhausted to lift a hand. But now was a fight to 
be seen calculated to rejoice the heart of one loving 
his country. As sometimes a great distress or humil- 
iation coming on a man with good qualities, who 
has lived an inglorious, unworthy life, will spur him 
to take a new start, cast aside those infirmities 
which have marred his character and rise to true 
nobility of life, so was it now with the Prussian peo- 
ple. As animated by one heart, all responded to 
the call. Prussia became a great arsenal. Youths 
hardly ripe enough, old men with grey hair, fathers 
of families, tradesmen, artisans, professional men, 
landed gentry, even young women in men's cloth- 
ing flew to arms ; all wanted to hold a gun and 
brandish a sword for Fatherland. He who could 
not enter the ranks gave his money. He who had no 
money gave his labour. None would hang behind 
the others in the great cause. Speedily the whole 
of the able male population was converted into an 
army. There was the standing army, and there 
were the free corps. Among these latter Liitzow's 
Huntsmen gained a glorious name in these days of 
gallantry. Napoleon advanced into the heart of 
Germany, and he was in Saxony before the Prussians 
were ready to meet him. Now the Emperor Alex- 
ander of Russia sent help, and the two allies met 
Napoleon, and were defeated by him in two bloody 
battles at Liitzen and Bautzen. 

The Emperor of Austria offered to mediate. His 
minister, Count Metternich, was sent to Napoleon. 
" Hah ! come to mediate, have you ? " asked Bona- 



blucher wins success. 365 

parte ; " if that be so, you are not on my side." 
Then, insolently, " Well, Metternich, how much 
money have you been bribed with by England to 
take this part?" and he threw his hat down on the 
floor to see if Count Metternich would stoop to 
pick it up. Metternich looked at the hat, then 
at Napoleon, and set his lips. He would not stoop. 
Napoleon turned his back on him, — and so, war 
with Austria also was determined on. Immedi- 
ately, the combined Prussian and Russian army 
entered Bohemia, where they were joined by the 
Emperor of Austria at the head of his army. The 
army in Bohemia was placed under the command 
of Prince Schwarzenberg. Another army to guard 
Silesia was under Blucher, a third, the North army 
at Berlin, was under the Crown-Prince of Sweden, 
who was a Frenchman, Charles Bernadotte, one of 
Napoleon's generals, who had been elected to suc- 
ceed the childless King of Sweden. 

On the 23d of August a murderous conflict took 
place at Gross-Beeren between a Prussian division 
of the North army and the French. The almost 
untrained peasantry that composed it rushed upon 
the enemy and beat down entire battalions with the 
butt-ends of their muskets, whilst the crown-prince 
and his Swedes looked on without taking part. 
The French lost 2400 prisoners. Blucher in Silesia 
also won success three days later. Having drawn 
the French across the river Neisse, he drove 
them, after a desperate engagement, into the river, 
swollen with heavy rains. The muskets of the sol- 
diers had been rendered unserviceable by the wet. 



3 66 



NAPOLEON FALLS AXD GERMANY RISES. 



and Blucher, drawing his sabre from beneath his 
cloak, dashed forward, exclaiming, "Forwards!" 

Several thousand French were drowned or bayo- 
netted, or had their skulls fractured by the butt- 
ends of the muskets. They lost 103 guns, 18,000 
prisoners, and a greater number were killed. The 
general in command, Macdonald, escaped almost 
alone to Napoleon at Dresden. " Sire," said the de- 
feated general, 4t your army no longer exists." 
Blucher was given a title of prince from the place 
where this victory was won, but his soldiers pre- 
ferred to call him " Marshal Forwards." The place 
of this battle was Wahlstadt, not far from Liegnitz. 
Before Dresden, on the same day, Aug. 26, how- 
ever, the allies were defeated by Napoleon with 
great loss ; but this was the last victory obtained 
by Napoleon on German soil. 




LXI. 



THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS. 



(1813.) 

NAPOLEON'S generals were thrown back in every 
quarter with great loss on Dresden, where Napo- 
leon remained waiting his opportunity. A fresh 
disappointment befel him. The Bavarian army re- 
fused to fight for him, and went over to the allies, 
and marched to the Main to stand across Napo- 
leon's path if he attempted to retreat. When the 
news of this disaffection reached Napoleon's main 
army at Dresden the German troops in it began to 
waver, and when he ordered a march on Berlin, 
broke out in mutiny. A feeling of melancholy 
foreboding of his approaching fall stole over the 
great conqueror, and he remained for some days 
irresolute. Then his spirit revived. On the 16th 
of October, 1813, began the great battle of Leipzig, 
which is called by Germans " The Battle of the 
Nations," because of the various nationalities rep- 
resented in it, and the number of the troops engaged. 
It was fought on the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of 
October, and was one of the longest, sternest, and 
bloodiest actions of the war, and one of the greatest 
battles recorded in history. Napoleon had an army 

367 



3^8 



THE BATTLE OE THE NATIONS. 



of 200,000 men, and the allies 300,000; but the allies 
had not more than 200,000 the first day, as the 
Northern a,rmy was at Halle under Bernadotte, who 
was little inclined to fight his old master, Napo- 
leon. 

Now let me try to give you some idea of this 
great Battle of the Nations. Leipzig lies in a plain 
where two rivers, the Elster and the Pleisse, meet, and 
two smaller streams, the Luppe and the Partha, also 
meet and unite into one river, which thenceforth 
flows a short way and falls into the Saale above 
Halle. From the East comes the high road from 
Dresden, along which Napoleon marched to Leip- 
zig. From the South comes the road by which the 
Silesian army was advancing. This road ran along 
the Pleisse, through coppices of scraggy alders. On 
the West were two roads, one from the Saale at 
Weissenfels — i. e. S. W. — the other from Halle — 
N. W. Along this latter the North Army was advanc- 
ing, — reluctantly indeed, — under Bernadotte, Crown- 
Prince of S.veden. The Emperor of Austria, the Em- 
peror of Russia, and the King of Prussia were with 
the main army from Bohemia. With Napoleon 
was the King of Saxony, and Murat, King of 
Naples. As the allies drew near they formed a half 
moon, with the left wing on the Luppe and the 
right on the east bank of the Pleisse. Moreover, 
the Silesian army was planted on the road from 
Leipzig to Halle, and the Northern army, which was 
at Halle, ordered to come up quickly and unite 
with it, which it did not do. The object was to cut 






THE BA TTLE A T LEIPZIG. 



3 6 9 



off Napoleon's retreat, and drive him either back 
on Dresden, or, better still, due north. 

The battle began at 8 o'clock in the morning. A 
thousand cannon roared ; smoke rolled over the 
extended field. Napoleon planted himself with his 
main body across the south road that enters the 



^\ 






*%. 






D _ n_ MOCKERN%^ 






xzisfrfi: -^wj_^ 


s— . U — ■ — ^_ ■- — - ^_r^ 


ToDreaden 


"Y^"n_ &SCHONFLLD 




vlK \ 


>»—t> 


i^/l 


1 \%P R0B S TH ^IDC 




UtfLNAuff J 


\W Xp^WACHAU 




M M 


|>w\ 




w ^ 


^~>\ 




4** * 


1 %\ ^ 


- 


*v V 







THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. 

town from Wachau and Probstheide. The Polish 
prince, Poniatowski, with his Poles was between the 
Elsterand the Pleisse. Another division was placed 
between the Luppe and the Elster ; another again, 
under Marmont, was on the Halle road. The bat- 
tle began with a tremendous fight at Wachau, 
which lasted till 2 o'clock in the afternoon, in 
which the Russians were principally engaged ; but 
almost simultaneously it exploded at Lindenau, 
Konnewitz, and Mockern ; so that Leipzig was sur- 
rounded on all sides but N. and E. by the thunder 
of war. Nothing decisive was done at Lindenau 



3;o 



THE BATTLE OF THE NATIOXS. 



and Konnewitz, and Napoleon massed his men to 
make a crushing rush upon the right wing of the 
allies, and turn it at Probstheide. They shook 
and recoiled. Then above the booming of the 
guns sounded the merry bells of all the churches 
of Leipzig ; Napoleon had ordered them to be rung, 
believing that the victory was decided. At the 
same time, out of the Elster gate galloped a 
courier charged with a message to Paris of his suc- 
cess. But just then up came the Russian reserves 
from the South. The Cossacks charged down on 
the advancing wave of French. The allied army 
rallied, and rolled back the enemy. On a mound 
beside- the road Napoleon watched the battle all 
day, and the three allied sovereigns stood on an- 
other mound near Wachau. At one time they 
were almost captured, when the tide of battle 
turned. In the mean time Bliicher, " Marshal For- 
wards," was going forwards at Mockern unable to 
wait for the Swedes and their dawdling half-hearted 
leader, and he drove back the French within the 
walls of Leipzig. Darkness fell, and the roar of 
the cannons ceased, leaving the allies in possession 
of the field, and the French retiring behind Leip- 
zig, so as to hold the roads to Dresden and the 
North. At the moment when victory seemed to 
have declared for the French, Napoleon shouted 
exultantly : " The world turns round for us." 
When darkness settled in he felt that he was a 
beaten man ; but his spirit was not broken. 

Next day only desultory fighting ensued ; but he 
saw that he was in peril, and he ordered that at all 



PREPARED TO BREAK AWAY. 



37* 



cost the road to Weissenfels, along which lay his 
course to France, should be kept clear. He sent 
to the allies to ask for a truce, but was refused. 
On the 1 8th the battle began with renewed fury. 
But now the Swedes and North army came up from 
Halle, and another Russian force, and a large Aus- 
trian division. The French army, by its losses, had 
been greatly thinned, and the allies were at the 
same time reinforced. 

Napoleon now resolved on retreat, and concen- 
trated his army on the South. The allies' then ex- 
tended their right wing to the Partha, shutting off 
the road to Dresden, where they were opposed by the 
Saxons. The main column of the allies advanced 
from Wachau to Probstheide, driving the French 
before them. And now the Saxons went over, 
then the Wiirtemberg cavalry, to the side of the 
allies. The gap was at once filled, and a tremen- 
dous struggle took place at Schonewald ; but the 
French held their own. The circle was fast closing 
in on Leipzig. Only one road was left open, that to 
Weissenfels. Night settled down again on the 
bloody field, and Napoleon spent it in the town, 
into which he withdrew all but the outposts of his 
army, and prepared to break away home for France 
on the morrow. 

The 19th broke, and with the gathering light 
the allies advanced. The cannon-balls fell in show- 
ers in the streets. Napoleon, finding all was lost, 
quitted the town as the allies entered it on the 
other side. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he would 
have escaped but for the bravery of his generals, 



$7? 



THE BATTLE OF THE XATIOXS. 



Macdonald and Prince Poniatowski, who covered his 
retreat. When he had crossed he ordered the bridge 
by which he had passed to be blown up. This was 
done whilst his flying army was crossing, leaving 
25,000 of his men behind. Prince Poniatowski 
plunged on horseback into the Elster, in order to 
swim across, but sank in the deep mud. The King 
of Saxony, who* to the last, had remained true to 
Napoleon, was taken prisoner. 

The retreat of the great conqueror to the Rhine 
was a flight. In the " Battle of the Nations " the 
French lost 78,000 men in killed, wounded, and 
captives, 300 cannon, and 1000 standards. The 
loss on the side of the allies was, however, very 
heavy. 

Thus ended this glorious victory. All Germany 
was filled with rejoicing. The yoke of foreign 
bondage was broken. Thenceforth Germany was 
free from the French. 




LXII, 



NAPOLEON CHECKED. 



(1814.) 

The allied princes met at Frankfort to take coun- 
sel about a general peace. They agreed to offer 
Napoleon that the Rhine, the Alps, the Pyrenees, 
and the sea should form the frontiers of France. 
But in his still unbroken pride he refused this offer, 
and the war flared up again. On New Year's night 
of 1814 Bliicher went "forwards" over the Rhine at 
Mannheim and Coblenz with his army. The main 
army of the allies had crossed a few days earlier at 
Basle, as well as a Prussian army under Bulow 
from Holland. The Rhein-bund dissolved ; Hol- 
land, Switzerland, Italy fell away from Napoleon. 
Bavaria had already made terms. Jerome, whom his 
brother had made King of Westphalia, packed up 
his valise and ran away. Joseph, who had been 
made King of Spain, also fled, and the English, 
under Wellington, threatened Napoleon from the 
Pyrenees. 

Bliicher won several battles, and again peace was 
offered to Napoleon, but in vain. He would not give 
way. Fortune again seemed to favour him ; with 
his usual celerity he flew from one advancing body 

373 




GEBHARD LEBRECHT VON BLUCHER. 
(From a Portrait by T. B. Bock, 1815.) 



374 



FIRS T PEA CE OF PA RIS. 375 

to another, and beat them separately. However, 
the host formed against him closed in, and after a 
short resistance entered Paris. The deposition of 
the emperor was decreed, and the brother of Louis 
XVI. was proclaimed king. All the efforts made 
by Napoleon to save for himself, or his family, 
some of their former honours were in vain ; his 
marshals fell away from him. He was forced to 
sign his renunciation of the crown, but he was al- 
lowed to retain the title of Emperor and hold the 
little isle of Elba as a sovereign principality. For 
the immeasurable injuries and losses which Ger- 
many had suffered from him, with rare generosity 
no compensation was exacted. This was the First 
Peace of Paris (1814). A congress was summoned 
to assemble at Vienna to regulate the relationship 
of the States of Germany. 

From Paris the sovereigns of Prussia and Russia 
and the victorious generals proceeded to London, 
where they, more especially Blucher, were received 
with every demonstration of respect and delight. 

In the autumn of 18 14 the European princes 
and their principal ministers and generals assem- 
bled in Vienna as had been agreed ; but soon the 
mutual jealousies began to work among them. 
Talleyrand was there. This utterly unscrupulous 
man had served under every government ; under the 
Republic, under Napoleon, and was now under the 
restored Bourbons. He was there to offer his per- 
fidious advice to the victors, and to sow the seed of 
discord among them. Soon disputes broke out, 
and the news reached Napoleon in his banishment. 



176 



X.irOLEOX CHECKED. 



Suddenly, on the 1st of March, 1815, he set foot on 
the coast of France. The whole nation received 
him with acclamations of delight. All the troops 
sent against him went over to his side. On the 20th 
of March he entered Paris. Louis XVIII., deserted 
by his army, fled to the Netherlands. Napoleon's 
brother-in-law, Murat, at the same time revolted at 
Naples, and advanced into Upper Italy against the 
Austrians; but all the rest of Napoleon's ancient 
allies, persuaded that he must fall, drew closer to- 
gether in league against him. The allied sovereigns, 
still assembled at Vienna, let drop their miserable 
disputes to combine for his overthrow. All his 
cunning attempts to bribe them were rejected with 
scorn. Napoleon was proclaimed an outlaw, and 
they bound themselves to bring a force more than 
a million strong into the field against him. The 
French were still faithful to Napoleon. He col- 
lected an army of 150,000 men and marched on 
Belgium, where an English force, under the Duke of 
Wellington, and a Prussian, under Bliicher, were 
about to cross the frontier. 

At Ligny he fought and defeated Bliicher on 
June 16th with great slaughter. On the same day 
the left wing of the French under Marshal Ney 
attacked the English at Quatre Bras, and suffered a 
severe defeat. After this, the Prussians retreated 
to Havre, pursued by 35,000 French, and Wel- 
lington, falling back on the position he had chosen 
near Waterloo, awaited the approach of Napoleon. 

At Brussels, in a picture gallery, by a painter 
called Wicrtz, is a painting representing Waterloo 



A SECOND ABDICATION'. 



377 



allegorically. A great black lion is tearing to pieces 
an eagle. The eagle represents the French military 
power, and the black lion symbolises the power of 
the Netherlands. As a matter of fact, all the part 
taken by the Belgian soldiers in this memorable 
battle was to run away at the first discharge of fire- 
arms, and the English opened ranks to allow the 
frightened little men to escape through their lines. 
In this stupendous conflict of the 18th of June, 
the flower of the French soldiery perished in their 
desperate efforts against the obdurate valour of the 
British. The battle raged from noon till eight 
o'clock. Bliicher and his Prussians made great 
efforts to reach the scene of action , but, marching 
over ground rendered almost impassable by the 
heavy rains that had fallen, their main body did 
not arrive till the victory was already won. They 
undertook the pursuit, and so completed the 
achievement which the British had begun. The 
French army was converted into a helpless mob 
of fugitives, incapable of rallying again. Napo- 
leon returned to Paris to abdicate a second time. 
Then, failing in an attempt to escape to Amer- 
ica, he surrendered himself to Captain Maitland, of 
H. M. S. Bellerophon. 

With the concurrence of all the powers, he Was 
conveyed, under the custody of the English, to the 
island of S. Helena, where he died on the 5th of 
May, 182 1. Meanwhile Murat, Napoleon's brother- 
in-law, defeated by the Austrians at Tolentino, was 
taken and shot, as he was trying to incite the 
Italian rabble to insurrection. 



378 



NA POLE ON CHE CKED. 



After the battle of Waterloo the allies a second 
time entered Paris. Louis XVIII. returned, and 
the Second Peace of Paris (1815) was concluded. 
This time the allies did not treat France with as 
much consideration as before. A large part of the 
left bank of the Rhine was restored to Germany, 
and France had to pay an indemnification of seven 
hundred million francs. 

In the new partition of Europe, arranged at the 
congress of Vienna, Austria received Lombardy 
and Venice, Dalmatia also, and Tyrol were restored 
to her. Thus, after three-and-twenty years of war, 
the monarchy apparently gained a considerable 
accession of strength, having obtained, in lieu of its 
remote and unprofitable possessions in the Nether- 
lands, territories which joined in Italy. The an- 
cient German empire was replaced by a German 
confederation of thirty-nine states, and a perma- 
nent diet, or parliament, made up of their repre- 
sentatives, was established at Frankfort. Saxony, 
Wurtemberg and Bavaria, which had been ele- 
vated into kingdoms by Napoleon, were allowed 
to remain kingdoms ; but of all the brothers and 
field-marshals whom Napoleon had exalted into 
kings and princes, not one remained in possession 
of the dignity he had conferred. One only of his 
marshals, Bernadotte, King of Sweden, whom he 
had not crowned, and whom he particularly hated, 
retained his position. 



LXIII. 



GERMANY STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM. 



AFTER the fall of Napoleon, the relation between 
the princes and their people went through a great 
change, a change they themselves were not ready 
to acknowledge. The French Revolution had 
greatly influenced men's minds throughout Europe, 
and men desired more freedom and emancipation 
from the irksome restraints of medievalism. 

Now, in Germany, in former times, the people 
had to a very considerable extent governed them- 
selves. Every little state had its houses of parlia- 
ment, composed of the nobles — that is, the landed 
gentry, the clergy and representatives of the peo- 
ple. But after the Reformation the great wars, 
especially the terrible Thirty Years' War, had ruined 
the small nobles, and the institution of a parlia- 
ment had fallen into disuse. Thenceforth the 
princes ruled absolutely ; they levied what taxes 
they chose, and made war on whom they chose, 
and imposed what religion and what laws they 
chose, without consulting the people, who had 
but one duty — to obey and pay. But the freedom 
which France had fought to establish, the declam- 
ation of the rights of men, had set Germans think- 

379 






3 8o 



GERM 'AS V STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM. 



ing, and they felt that they had these rights, and that 
they ought to be consulted in matters affecting their 
welfare. However, the kings, and emperors, and 
princes, when they recast the map of Europe, had no 
idea of conceding liberty more than they were 
obliged. They wanted to restore things as they 
were before the great European war broke out. 

The emperors, Alexander of Russia, Francis of 
Austria, and King Frederick William III. of Prussia, 
concluded between them "the Holy Alliance," and 
promised to stand by each other, and to advance 
religion, peace and righteousness in their lands, 
and to rule their people as fathers. Unfortunately, 
they took a wrong idea of fatherly rule. They 
thought it meant despotic rule, and accordingly, 
instead of advancing prosperity and giving more 
freedom to their people, they treated them like 
children, devoid of intelligence, or as expecting of 
them the docility of school-girls. 

William, Duke of Hesse-Cassel, said, " I have slept 
seven years, now we will forget the bad dream," 
and he tried to put everything exactly on its old 
footing. In the congress of Vienna, all the princes 
had promised to give constitutions to their princi- 
palities, that is — self-government by means of 
houses of parliament. But none of them, when 
settled on their thrones, thought of giving 
what had been promised. This led to much un- 
easiness. The people were dissatisfied and clam- 
oured for what had been promised. The stu- 
dents in the universities especially took up the cry 
for liberty and a constitution, and formed them- 






S£ CRT T TRIALS AND TOR TORE. 3 # 1 

selves into " Bauchenschaften," clubs for the 
spread of liberal ideas. The young men dressed in 
short black jackets, wore tops boots, long hair, ex- 
posed their throats with falling collars, wore dag- 
gers in their breast pockets, and drank barrels of 
beer in honour of liberty. They assumed a tricol- 
our ribband, red, black and yellow, as their badge. 
In October, 1817, they held a great meeting on the 
Wartburg in commemoration of Luther, and to ex- 
press their detestation of the formalism and re- 
straint exercised by the government. They lit 
a huge bonfire, and burned in it several " pigtails," 
stiff-neck stocks, and other symbols of the 18th 
century. This was all very absurd, and the gov- 
ernment ought not to have noticed it, but when, 
shortly after, Kotzebue, the dramatic author, who 
had turned some of the German peculiarities into 
ridicule, was assassinated, they took a serious view 
of the affair, and proceeded to put the universities 
under police supervision, and to break up the 
clubs, and make many arrests. 

Not only did the people want parliaments, but 
also open courts of trial, with juries. Trials were 
conducted in secret, and carelessly, and much par- 
tiality was shown. Strict justice was not always 
dealt. For instance, in 1820, a painter and a car- 
penter were murdered in Dresden, and the police ar- 
rested an innocent man, and racked and tortured 
him, to force a confession. To escape the rack he 
did at last confess guilt, and only just as he 
was about to be executed did his innocence trans- 
pire. In 1830 a carpenter at Rostock was accused 



382 



GERMAXV STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM. 



by his apprentice of having murdered his wife. 
He was kept imprisoned for nine years, and only 
then did it come out that the apprentice was the 
murderer. In the same year the Danish ambas- 
sador in Oldenburg was assassinated, and his two 
servants, who were perfectly innocent, were kept in 
prison for six years, and so badly treated as to be 
broken in health and spirit by their confinement. 
The people were very dissatisfied, and very justly 
dissatisfied, with the way in which criminal trials 
were carried out. Another cause of complaint 
was the censure on the press. No books might 
be published and sold, no newspapers issued, which 
had not passed under the eye of officers appointed 
to read and approve them. I remember about this 
time, when I was in Germany, that my father 
wanted to buy the memoirs of Baron Trenck, who 
had been imprisoned for many years by the King of 
Prussia. The bookseller replied that he was not 
allowed to sell it, but he winked to my father, and 
when no one else was in the shop led him into a 
back room, and produced the book from a secret 
cupboard. So it was, books that were forbidden 
were sold, but purchasers were put to great incon- 
venience to get them, and if the bookseller were 
found out, he was thrown into prison. 

Spirits were so agitated, that some of the small 
princes gave way, and granted constitutions to their 
subjects. In July, 1830, revolution broke out again 
in Fiance, and Charles X., who had succeeded Louis 
XVIII., was driven from his throne, to which suc- 
ceeded Louis Philippe, his kinsman. This change 



THE ZOLL-VEREIN. 



333 



was not without effect in Germany, and led to con- 
siderable disturbance. The people cried out for 
more freedom, for sounder institutions, a healthier 
form of government ; they refused to be any longer 
treated as children ; but they did not rise in a 
body, and it ended in only the grant of a few more 
institutions. Austria and Prussia would not yield. 

William IV., of England, died in 1837 without 
male issue. Since George I., the kings of England 
had been electors of Hanover, but now the union 
ceased, and Ernest Augustus, brother of William 
IV., succeeded to the kingdom of Hanover. A 
constitution had been granted to Hanover in 1833, 
and this he proceeded to abolish. This created 
general opposition in his land, and an appeal 
against him was made to the Diet of the Bund at 
Frankfort. The confederation, however, declared it 
had no authority to interfere, and this completely 
struck down all confidence in the Frankfort Diet. 

One good institution, and only one, dates from 
this period, and that was the Zoll-verein, or Ger- 
man Customs - Union. Hitherto, things made or 
grown in one little principality were subject to duty 
if they passed into another. The result was that 
smuggling went on very generally, and that every 
little state was put to great cost to keep its fron- 
tiers guarded. Moreover, trade was terribly crippled 
by the arbitrary duties imposed on things exported 
and imported. Consequently, several of the German 
states agreed with Prussia to unite in one customs- 
union ; but Austria, and some of the northern 
states did not join it. 







rnnrriiiiHdi jjmrr 






■OM 


•Wkm^ 




r fjfe 




8E 


jB 


Csri^Lfld 


T^ 


<jff £^^^^ ^^* A 






JJ5 



LXIV. 



ANOTHER REVOLUTION. 



(1848.) 

LOUIS PHILIPPE, who, by the July Revolution, 
had come to the throne of France, forgot his prom- 
ises to rule his people through a constitution. 
The welfare of his own family lay nearer his heart 
than that of his subjects. Very likely he thought 
that, as a piece of rare luck had brought him to the 
throne, luck might desert him, and throw him 
down again ; and, as he thought this was not very 
improbable, so he resolved to feather his own nest 
whilst he had the chance. But this the French 
people did not acquiesce in, so they rose in revolt 
against him, as they had against Charles X., in the 
month of February, 1848. Louis Philippe at once 
fled to England, and France received a Republican 
constitution, and Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, a 
nephew of the late Emperor Napoleon, was elected, 
in December of the same year, first president of 
the Republic. 

On December 2, 185 1, he forcibly dissolved the 
National Assembly, and assumed absolute power. 
On the 2d of December, 1852, he had himself pro- 
claimed Emperor, under the title of Napoleon III. 

334 



WHO WAS NAPOLEON //. ? 



385 



You may perhaps wonder who Napoleon II. 
was. Napoleon I., at the height of his power, de- 
siring to obscure as much as possible his humble ori- 
gin, and the ignobility of his family, divorced his 
wife Josephine, and obliged the Emperor of Austria 
to give him his daughter, Maria Louisa. By her he 
had one son, born in 181 1. When Napoleon had to 
abdicate after the battle of Waterloo, he tried hard 
to get his little son proclaimed as Napoleon II., 
but, of course, in vain. The son died of decline 
when he was twenty-one years old. When Napoleon 
proclaimed himself as the third of that name, he in 
fact claimed that the poor boy had really been 
Emperor, and ignored the kings who had actually 
governed France, and the decision of Europe. 

Louis Napoleon, the new Emperor, was the third 
son of Louis, the brother of the Great Napoleon, 
who had been created by the conqueror King of 
Holland. 

The Revolution in France, in 1848, was of the 
greatest importance for all Europe, especially for 
Germany. In a few days every German state was in 
commotion, and the people loudly and threateningly 
demanded four things: 1. Freedom to express 
their opinions by word or writing, on what was go- 
ing on in the government of their country (free- 
dom of speech, and freedom of the press). 2. Uni- 
versal military service, the right of every man to 
bear arms, and at the same time the right of all to 
assemble when and where they liked, for political 
or other purposes. 3. Trial by jury, and open courts. 
4. The abolition of the Bund-Diet, and the constitu- 



3 86 



A NO THER RE I 'OL UTION. 



tional re-organization of every state. Most of the 
princes gave way in terror, fearing expulsion like 
that of Louis Philippe ; the King of Prussia and the 
Emperor of Austria only refused to yield. Then 
the people flew to arms, and in Vienna and Berlin 
bloody fights with the military ensued, which ended 
in the success of the latter. However, the Emperor 
Ferdinand had to fly his capital, and take refuge in 
Innsbruck, and thus to abdicate in favour of his 
nephew, Francis Joseph, who promised reforms. 
Also in Berlin, after much fighting, a constitution 

was granted. 

In the mean time the people desired that a 
national German parliament should be summoned, 
which should recast the institutions of the whole 
Fatherland. For this end 600 representatives of 
the people assembled at Frankfort to arrange 
preliminaries, and to call together a constitutional 
Diet, or National Assembly, each member of which 
was to represent 50.000 inhabitants. On the 
iSth of May. 1848, this National Assembly was 
opened at Frankfort, when it sat in the Protestant 
church of St. Paul. It at once proceeded to appoint 
a provisional government, and elected the Archduke 
John of Austria to be president and protector ; the 
Diet handed over to him its powers and then dis- 
solved itself. The decision arrived at was that a 
new law code was to be drawn up applicable to the 
whole of Germany ; the German Empire was to 
consist of one Federal body, with only one House 
of Representatives. Frederick William IV.. King of 
Prussia, was elected emperor, but he refused to 



NO UNITY YET 387 

accept the title thus offered him, and when he heard 
the decisions of the Assembly, he said, " They for- 
get that there are princes still in Germany, and that 
I am one of them." 

Upon this, great commotions broke out again, 
especially in the South. The peasants rose and took 
arms ; some wanted one thing, some another. The 
students claimed liberty of the press, the peasants 
the burning of the mortgages held by the Jews on 
their property. All these insurrections were put 
down by the military. All attempts to give Ger- 
many a satisfactory general constitution broke 
down, and in May, 185 1, the old Bund-Diet or Fed- 
eral Assembly was re-appointed. The governments 
had got the upper hand, but much more liberty 
was granted, so that the people had gained a great 
deal by this revolution. That which they really 
aimed at was unity, and the time for that was not 
yet come. 





LXV. 



A QUARREL ABOUT TWO DUCHIES. 



THE two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein were sub- 
ject to the King of Denmark ; but a portion of the 
inhabitants were Germans, and the German inhabit- 
ants and the Danes were continually quarrelling, 
and the Germans appealed against their neighbors 
to the sovereigns of Germany. In 1848 the German 
residents in the duchies tried to expel the Danes, 
and to get themselves free from the crown of Den- 
mark, but in vain. There were troubles again in the 
duchies in 185 1. When, in 1863, King Frederick 
VII., of Denmark, died without issue, the crown 
passed to Christian X., but the Prussian king 
would not consent to this arrangement, as far as 
the duchies were concerned, and insisted that they 
should go to Prince Frederick of Augustenberg, who 
was descended from a younger son of the same 
Alexander, Duke of Sonderburg, ancestor also of 
Christian IX., the new King of Denmark. Of 
course this was a mere excuse. The real ob- 
ject of Prussia was to get the two duchies 
joined on to Germany. However, the Danes had 
no intention to have a large portion of the kingdom 
torn from them, and so war broke out. Austria 

338 



c 
a 

r-O 





a 








<u 








en 








o 




pa 




be 








? 




•/I 


— < 


u 




C 


M 


u 


c 


:/: 


rt 


o 


Cfl 


0) 


>-. 


3 


JC 


3 


u 






A) 




Ih 




rt 




s 




c 



M 



8P 

•e c 

"On 'S ^ 
C n Cm 



(A 
O 

c 

O 






tn -a 



W 



3 
bfl 

3 

O 3 






- 3 H 

en -d 

3 

hO 

3 



X 






u 



0) 



>ri 


V* 


.22 *o 


_ O oo 

"C M 

T3 fl 

<u 

In 


u 


bn 



4> . 



08 


> . 

00 

3 o 




•c E? 

4) 


ct oo. 


<-> oo 

— g M 

T3 "O 


1) 


.22 "° 


(-1 


0) 


fe 


43 





389 



390 A QUARREL ABOUT TWO DUCHIES. 

joined with Prussia, because the incorporation of 
the duchies with Germany was popular, and Aus- 
tria did not wish Prussia to do a popular thing un- 
aided. Accordingly, these two giants attacked the 
poor little dwarf kingdom in 1864; but the Danes 
fought like heroes, and the war continued in 1865. 
Only then, crushed by the enormous preponderance 
in wealth and numbers of their mighty foes, did the 
Danes yield. 

But, no sooner was the war over, than Prussia 
showed that it was her intention to annex the 
newly acquired duchies to herself. This Austria 
could not endure, and accordingly, in 1866, war 
broke out between Austria and Prussia. Prussia 
sought alliance with Italy, which she stirred up to 
attack Austria in her Italian possessions. The Aus- 
trian army defeated the Italian at Eustazza ; but 
the fortunes of war were against them in Germany. 

Allied with the Austrians were the Saxons, the 
Bavarians, the Wiirtembergers, Baden, and Hesse, 
and Hanover. The Prussians advanced with their 
chief army into Bohemia with the utmost rapidity, 
dreading lest the Southern allies should march north 
to Hanover, and cut the kingdom in half, and push 
on to Berlin. The Prussians had three armies, which 
were to enter Bohemia and effect a junction. The 
Elbe army under the King, the first army under 
Prince Frederick Charles, and the second army under 
the Crown Prince. The Elbe army advanced across 
Saxony by Dresden. The first army was in Lusatia, 
at Reichenberg, and the second army in Silesia at 
Heisse. They were all to meet at Gitschin. 



GENERAL BENEDEK'S MISTAKE. 



39* 



The Austrian army under General Benedek was 
at Koniggratz, in Eastern Bohemia. Now, if you 
will look at your map, you will see that all the 
north of Bohemia is walled in by mountains, with 
only three tolerable passes through them. What 
the Austrians should have done was to have flung 
themselves at one army as it entered the mountains, 
beaten it, or at all events crippled it, then swung 
about and gone like a hammer at the second army, 
hurt that, and then battered down the third army. 
But, as in the wars with Napoleon, so was it now ; 
the Austrian generals were half asleep, and never 
did the right thing at the right moment. Benedek 
did indeed march against the first army, but too late, 
and when he found it was already through the 
mountain door, he retreated, and so gave time for 
the three armies to concentrate upon him. 

The Elbe army and the first met at Miinchengratz, 
and defeated an Austrian army there, pushed on, 
and drove them back out of Gitschin on Koniggratz, 
where Benedek was rubbing his eyes, and thinking 
it time to begin. 

The Prussians pushed on, and now the Elbe army 
went to Smidar, and the first army to Horzitz, 
whilst the second army, under the Crown Prince, was 
pushing on, and had got to Gradlitz. 

The little river Bistritz is crossed by the high road 
to Koniggratz. It runs through swampy ground, 
and forms little marshy pools or lakes. To the 
North of Koniggratz a little stream of much the 
same character dribbles through bogs into the Elbe. 
But about Chlum, Nedelist and Lippa is terraced 



392 A QUARREL ABOUT TWO DUCHIES. 

high ground, and there Benedek planted his cannon. 
The Prussians advanced from Smidar against the 
left wing of the Austrians, from Horzitz against the 
centre, and the Crown Prince was to attack the 
right wing. The battle began on the 3d of July, at 
7 o'clock in the morning, by the simultaneous 
advance of the Elbe and the first army upon the Bis- 
tritz. At Sadowa is a wood, and there the battle 
raged most fiercely. The Austrian cannons 
pounded the Prussians as they advanced, but they 
would not go back, but held on, and there the Aus- 
trians met them, and so exhausted were they at 
noon that they drew off. As yet the Crown Prince 
had not arrived , he was floundering through the 
bogs, unable to make much way. Now was Bene- 
dek's second chance. He ought to have gathered up 
his men, and driven them like a wedge into the 
panting, pausing Prussians. But he waited, and 
drew a long breath, and rubbed his hands, and 
thought things were not looking very bad. To 
keep him amused, the Prussians thundered with 
their guns at his positions till they were rested. 
Thus passed two hours. All at once, boom ! boom ! 
then a roar of artillery brought down by the wind 
from the North. It was the signal that the Crown 
Prince with the first army had arrived on the scene, 
was crossing the brook and assailing the right wing 
and flank of Benedek. Immediately the refreshed 
Prussians of the other two armies charged. The 
King called up the reserves to help. At the same 
time the Crown Prince took Chlum, the key of the 
Austrian position, and the battle was won. 



THE BATTLE OF SADOWA. 



393 



The battle was fought with the utmost bravery, 
but two things were against the Austrians ; first, the 
incompetence of their general, and, secondly, the 
inferiority of their guns. The Prussians had what 
are called needle-guns, breech-loaders, which are 
fired by the prick of a needle, and for rapidity with 



« 

II f 
// «* 

h 

// ** 




t 

11$ 

II a* 

h 
r 


GRADLITZ& 




MUNCHEN~^ 
= CRAT2. 








N\ SADOWAfW CHLUh 
§M/DAR vO \U 

^•j \\ i 

jr •%■ \ i 

jF lipa\ 1 


A 

, fa 

KOA//GCRATZ 


& 


/• * 





THE BATTLE OF KONIGGEATZ. 



which they can be fired far surpassed the oldrfash- 
ioned muzzle-loaders used by the Austrians. 

After this great battle, which is called by the 
French and English the battle of Sadowa (Sadowa, 
not Sadowa, as it is erroneously pronounced), but 
which the Germans call the battle of Koniggratz, 
the Prussians marched on Vienna, and reached the 
Marchfeld before the Emperor Francis Joseph 
would come to terms. 



394 A Q UARREL ABOUT TWO DUCHIES. 

At last, on the 23d of August, a peace which gave 
a crushing preponderance in Germany to Prussia, 
was concluded at Prague. 

In the mean time, however, a battle had been 
fought at Langensalza against the Hanoverians, in 
which they were defeated, and by rapid marches 
the Prussians had entered Hesse-Cassel and seized 
the person of the Duke. By the PEACE OF PRAGUE 
a complete change was effected in Germany. The 
Germanic Federation or Bund, was dissolved. Prus- 
sia annexed Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and Nassau, as 
well as the two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. Aus- 
tria> Wtirtemberg and Baden were required to pay 
a war indemnity, and in addition to this Bavaria and 
Hesse-Darmstadt were forced to surrender some of 
their territories to Prussia. The states north of the 
River Main were formed into a Northern Federa- 
tion (Nord-Bund) at the head of which stood Prus- 
sia, those south were to form South Germany, and 
Austria was excluded from having anything to do 
with either. She had also to surrender Venice to 
Italy. Thus the war of 1866 led to a division of 
Germany into three parts ; but Prussia had obtained 
such power that South Germany could not resist 
her will ; and everything was ready for the union 
of the North and South, which was soon to take 
effect. 



LXVI. 



A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 



(1870-1871.) 

THE throne of Spain was vacant, and Prince 
Leopold of Hohenzollern was a candidate for it. 
This created a profound excitement in France. 
You will remember how Francis I. fought against 
Charles V. because he was at once King of Germany 
and King of Spain. Now France was alarmed at the 
prospect of a German king ruling Spain, fearing a 
combination against her to crush her, as Prussia 
had combined with Italy against Austria, The agi- 
tation was so great that the Emperor Napoleon III. 
was forced to proclaim war. The candidature of 
the Hohenzollern Prince had been withdrawn when 
it was seen how offensive it was to France, but that 
did not content the French, and Napoleon was 
obliged to humour the popular passion and go to war. 

At the time King William of Prussia was at Ems 
for a holiday, and all his principal ministers were 
in the country enjoying their leisure. The French 
envoy, Benedetti, visited the king at Ems, and the 
king, seeing that war was inevitable, hastily re- 
turned to Berlin, and called his ministers about him. 
On the 16th July the North German Federal council 

395 



39^ 



A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH TRANCE. 



met, and decided to prepare for war. On the 19th 
an Imperial diet was called, attended by representa- 
tives of all the North and South German states, 
and all decided on making common cause with the 
King of Prussia. This was a great surprise to Na- 
poleon, who thought that South Germany would 
remain neutral. By the union of North and South 
he had to contend against a vast power, and his 
own force was not even equal to that of the 
Northern Federation alone. 

War was declared, and the fear was lest the French 
should cross the frontier before the German army 
was " mobilized/' that is, got together and fitted for 
war. 

According to all the traditions of the French 
army, it ought to assume the offensive. It had 
been so with the campaigns of Louis XIV. and of 
Napoleon L, but it was not so on this occasion, 
because the French were not ready. Here was a 
first blunder — they declared war before they were 
prepared to begin it. The French army had 
indeed marched to the frontier, but it was without 
supplies — the requisite munitions of war. The plan 
adopted was this : 150,000 men were to be placed 
at Metz, 100,000 at Strasburg, and 50,000 were to 
act as the reserve at Chalons. Then, the Metz and 
Strasburg armies were to cross the Rhine after 
passing through the Bavarian palatinate, and to 
advance on Frankfort, by Rastadt, where a great 
battle was to be fought against the Northern army, 
on the defeat of which it was expected that South 



THE CONTENDING ARMIES. 



397 



Germany, Denmark and Austria would take up arms 
and become the allies of France. 

However, nothing was ready. The soldiers re- 
mained inactive, waiting for the military trains a 
whole fortnight. In the mean time, all the railways 
of Germany were conveying soldiers to the front ; but 
no troops were sent forward till they were thor- 
oughly equipped and ready to take the field. After 
the second week, the German army lined the fron- 
tier, prepared at all points for the French. 

There were, in fact, three armies : The first, under 
General Steinmetz, formed the right wing, and was 
stationed on the Moselle at Treves. The second, 
under Prince Frederick Charles, was in the Rhenish 
palatinate. The third, under the Crown Prince of 
Prussia was planted on the right bank of the Rhine, 
from Mannheim to Rastadt. These armies were com- 
posed of 447,000 men. Behind, in Germany, re- 
mained ready under arms a reserve of 188,000 men 
to be sent forward later. Behind them, again, a 
second reserve of 160,000 men, also 226,000 men to 
be kept to fill up the gaps made by war. On July 
28th the French Emperor, along with his son, the 
Prince Imperial, a boy of fourteen, went to Metz to 
assume the command. On August 2d he attacked 
Saarbriicken, which contained only 1300 men, and 
drove them out, after a fight of three hours, but 
they retired in good order, and were not pursued, 
neither was Saarbriicken occupied by the French. 

Now the Germans advanced. The leading idea 
in the mind of Moltke, who directed operations, was, 
" Let the armies march separately, and concentrate 



39§ 



A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH ERAXCE 



to fight." That was, as you may remember, the 
way in which the battle of Leipzig was won. It 
was the way, later, in which the battle of Sadowa 
was won. 

A little below Rastadt the Lauter runs into the 
Rhine from the west. The third army began its 
forward march on August 4th and crossed the 
Lauter, which was then the frontier. It came upon 
the French at Weissenberg, and after a battle that 
lasted five hours, drove them back. These French 
were not the main army, but a division thrown out 
in front, and MacMahon, the French general, with 
the army behind ought to have known that the 
Germans who attacked and took Weissenberg were 
not a division, but an entire army. He did not. 
He had no idea how and where the German armies 
were disposed. 

The army of the Crown Prince pushed on, and 
presently discovered the French in force at Worth, 
and routed them on August 6th, with the loss on the 
German side of 10,642 men. That on the French 
side is not accurately known, but cannot have been 
less. The French fought with splendid braver)', 
but were outnumbered. This victory opened to 
the Germans the passes of the Vosges, and the 
road to Nancy 

The very same day a victory was gained at Spich- 
eren, about three miles from Saarbriicken, by the first 
and second armies, which had united. General Fros- 
sard commanded the French, and he had entrenched 
himself on a height with steep coppice wooded sides. 
The storming of the heights of Spicheren was one 



WHA T THE CA VALKY DID. 



399 



of the most difficult and bloody fights in the whole 
course of the war. Bad generalship was the cause of 
the defeat of the French — throughout the battle sev- 
eral divisions of this army were left in inaction. The 
heights were taken as darkness fell, and Frossard 
fell back under the protection of the fire of his ar- 
tillery, towards Oettingen. All three divisions of 
the German army were now on French soil, and 
set forward under directions from headquarters, 
which was in the rear. The third army now 
crossed the Vosges. On the ioth a telegram from 
headquarters at Saarbriicken announced, " The 
French army is retreating on the Moselle at all 
points, pursued by our cavalry." From this time, 
the use and importance of the cavalry as a most in- 
valuable branch of the service was recognized. It 
was sent before the main body of the army, gather- 
ing information as to the movements of the enemy, 
and marking those of the Germans. It swept over 
large districts, attacked and cut off trains of trans- 
port and convoys of provisions, collected food and 
exacted contributions. When a battle was to be 
fought it was called in and ready to take part in it 
with effect. 

On the 14th of August the whole of the first army 
under Steinmetz was east of Metz, and the natives 
informed the general that the French troops, en- 
camped on the right bank of the Moselle, were leav- 
ing their quarters. Marshal Bazaine now com- 
manded in place of the Emperor, who was back in 
Paris, where great agitation broke out at the news 
of the successes of the Germans and their forward 



400 A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 

march. Napoleon sent orders to Bazaine to retire 
on Chalons, where was the reserve, and whither the 
remains of MacMahon's army had retreated. The 
marshal accordingly, on the 13th, had thrown bridges 
over the Moselle, sent some of his trains to Gravelotte 
the same day, and intended to follow on the morrow 
with all his army, leaving only sufficient men in 
Metz to hold the fortress. When, however, the 
Germans saw that the French were in retreat they 
attacked them, at the village of Colombey, on the 
14th of August. 

I must try to give you some idea of the position 
of Metz that you may understand the events that 
followed. Metz was the capital of old Lotharingia, 
or Lorraine, and is situated on the river Moselle 
which here flows through a broad valley from three 
to four miles wide. The hills are close to the river 
on the east side, but stand back from it with ab- 
rupt fronts on the west. Just by Metz, however, 
they draw together. Metz stands on rising ground 
on the east side of the river, that is, its right 
bank, but the ground rises behind it, though not to a 
great altitude. On the west side the hills are higher, 
and one opposite Metz, crowned by a fort, stands up 
immediately above the river. The range of hills 
that runs north and south of the valley of the Mo- 
selle is broken through at several places by streams. 
Nine or ten miles south of Metz the Gorze stream 
flows in from the north-west. Three miles nearer, 
another stream, the Mance, enters the Moselle, at 
Ars-sur-Moselle. 

Now the road from Metz to Verdun and Chalons 







w^v*" 



gPW^ 



—■ "\ 



*Kfo. 



N 

Ul 



N 
Uj 






i. Wj 



K K K 



•* <0 CQ 






< «< 








p 


_|x 


c: i 




IS 






«< 


»^ 




i 03 


^" 






*»' 


^1 




jf* 








0*> 


k 


;§*** 








a// 




3 
V 


> 






< 

«J // 


3* ! 




a // 


to sr* 




tfBtl 


o: s 

<r -. 





401 



402 * TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 

is an old Roman road. It turns under the hill with 
Fort S. Quentin, opposite Metz, and then crosses 
the highland and the two streams one after the 
other. There is also a third stream, also running 
from the north-west, which enters the Moselle just 
under the hill and fort of S. Quentin. Now Mar- 
shal Bazaine had, as you have heard, received orders 
to retire from Metz by Verdun to Chalons, and he 
was beginning to do so on the 13th when the cav- 
alry, who flew about spying all the proceedings of 
the French, discovered what he was about. So on 
the 14th the Germans attacked his rear guard with 
their first army. The battle lasted seven hours. 
The French occupied the ground from Grizy to 
Savigny, with their centre at Colombey. They 
were driven back on Metz, and in the evening the 
Germans occupied all their line. The great import- 
ance of this battle was that it delayed Bazaine's re- 
treat nearly two days, and gave the second German 
army time to come up and cross the Moselle some 
miles above Metz. 

And now you must try to understand the very 
masterly plan and movements that followed, the 
later of which have scarce been surpassed in any 
war. Directly the king heard of the victory of 
Colombey, he ordered the second army to cross 
the Moselle where the Gorze brook enters it, ad- 
vance up the Gorze valley and occupy the old 
Roman road to Verdun, so as to cut off Bazaine's 
retreat. The Moselle was crossed at 3 o'clock in the 
evening of the 15th, that is, the day after the battle 
of Colombey, and the army advanced on Vion- 






GRAVELOTTE. ^ O o 

ville. The French were discovered to be in force all 
along the high table-land or terrace from Mars-la- 
Tour to Rezonville, and to hold the valley of the 
Gorze and the hill between it and the Mance. On 
the morning of the 16th the battle began with the 
advance of the 3d corps between Vionville and 
Flavigny. For five hours this gallant corps held its 
own against overwhelming odds till it was relieved 
by the coming up of the 10th corps and Prince 
Frederick Charles, " the Red Prince," as he was 
called, from his red beard. The principal fight was 
on the left wing, which was mostly composed of 
cavalry, who tried to turn the flank of the French 
at Mars-la-Tour. About 5000 horsemen on either 
side were engaged in the fight, which finally ended 
in the success of the Germans. The right wing was 
also successful. It drove the French from their 
positions and gained the top of the hill between the 
two streams. By this victory the road was taken 
and the retreat of the French by it was cut off. 

Next day the French retired to the line of hills 
on the Metz side of the Mance. The position was 
very strong by nature, and they fortified it by dig- 
ging trenches, and throwing up embankments. The 
left wing of the French rested on the Moselle at 
Vaux, and the right was at S. Marie-aux-Chenes on 
the main road from Metz to Longuyon and Sedan. 

The Germans at once advanced and occupied 
Gravelotte. The first army was engaged here on the 
1 8th. The Saxons and the guards were sent north 
to turn the flank of the French at S. Marie. Also 
the left wing was attacked at Vaux. The centre 



40 4 



A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 



was at Gravelotte, but opposite this the position 
of the French was too strong for much to be ef- 
fected. The hardest fighting and the most life lost 
was about S. Marie and S. Privat, where the wing of 
the French was successfully turned and they were 
driven back in confusion, and fled to Metz in wild 
rout. The left wing, however, held its own all night, 
but retired on Metz on the morning following. 
That same morning the German cavalry cut the 
railway north to Thionville, so that now the French 
army was enclosed in Metz. 

A new arrangement of the army was at once 
made. Hitherto there had been three forces, now 
four were made, the fourth being called the army 
of the Meuse, and was made up of some of the corps 
belonging to the others and of the reserves which 
began to arrive. The first and second armies were 
left under the Red Prince to hold Bazaine in the 
trap into which he had been driven, and the third 
and fourth were sent on to meet MacMahon, who 
was supposed to be with his broken army and the 
reserve at Chalons. No time was lost. On the 
19th, the day after the battle of Gravelotte, it began 
its advance. 

Presently the cavalry discovered that Chalons 
had been deserted. MacMahon had gone north. 
What was his object ? Was he going to retreat to 
Paris, or was he aiming at a flank movement 
against the advancing Germans ? Forth went the 
cavalry, like a cloud of mosquitoes in all directions, 
and presently they found out where he was. He 
had not gone to Paris ; he had retired on Rheims. 



M ACM A HON IN A CORNER. 4QI - 

The Germans pushed after him. Next they ascer- 
tained that he had gone away with his army to Re- 
thel, north-east. Now his object was clear. He 
was going to the Moselle, to relieve Bazaine in Metz. 
If he had been quick in his movements he might 
have done it, but he wasted ten precious days in 
crawling from Rheims to Beaumont on the Meuse, 
which gave the Germans time to catch up with him, 
and spoil his plan. 

Directly the Germans saw what he was after, with- 
out losing a moment they marched north, and sent 
out detachments from the armies enclosing Metz to 
stop him if he came over from the Meuse to the 
Moselle valley. 

On the 28th of August MacMahon was between 
Vonziers and Stenay on the Meuse. The Germans 
came up from the south, to the dismay of the 
French, and began to advance on them, and drive 
them back. On the 30th, Beaumont and the 
heights behind it were stormed, and MacMahon 
was obliged to retire beyond the river to Carignan, 
and next day to fall back on Sedan, although by 
this time he saw that neither in generalship nor in the 
quality of his soldiers, was he a match for the Ger- 
mans, yet he would not yield without a blow. As 
you see, if you look on the map, he had allowed 
himself to be driven into a corner, and now, as in the 
battle of Leipzig with the first Napoleon, so was it 
with Napoleon III. at Sedan. The Germans con- 
centrated on him from all sides except that which 
was towards the Belgian frontier. Gradually they 
closed in, driving the French before them. Mac- 



406 



A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 



Mahon was wounded at the beginning of the battle, 
and the command was taken by Wimpffen. But it 
mattered not who commanded ; no general was 
equal to saving this army driven into a trap, as Ba- 
zaine's army had also been driven. The French 
were crowded about Sedan, unable to make effect- 
ive resistance, with 500 cannon playing on them. 
Then the Emperor Napoleon, who was in the town, 
seeing that everything was lost, hoisted the white 
flag. One of his adjutants brought King William 
a letter, in which the Emperor said, " As I have 
not died at the head of my troops, I hand over my 
sword to your Majesty." 

The king replied that he would accept his sword, 
and would send an officer with full powers to treat 
about a capitulation. Next morning (2d Sept.) 
early, Napoleon left Sedan to meet the German 
chancellor. Bismarck met him in the house of a 
poor weaver at Donchery, but no decision was come 
to, as the Emperor would not treat of the conclu- 
sion of peace. Then King William met his prisoner 
in the little chateau of Bellevue, near Frenois. The 
arrangement for the capitulation was concluded 
between the war minister, Von Moltke, and General 
Wimpffen. The army was to surrender itself as 
prisoners of war. Every officer who would pass his 
word not to take up arms again during the .war 
against Germany was to be set free. All the weapons, 
standards and war material in Sedan were to be de- 
livered over. Thus fifty generals, 5000 officers, 
83,000 men, 558 cannon and 6000 horses fell into 
the hands of the Germans. About 28,000 prisoners 




KARL OTTO, PRINCE VON BISMARCK-SCHOEN HAL SEN. 



40/ 



40$ A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 

had already been taken ; 14,000 wounded lay in Se- 
dan, 3000 men had escaped over the Belgian frontier, 
where they were disarmed. Thus, an army of 135- 
000 men was annihilated. The Emperor was sent to 
the castle of YVilhelmshohe, near Cassel, the summer 
resort of the Dukes of Hesse-Cassel. 

And now, consider the rapidity with which these 
splendid results had been attained. On the 4th of 
August the German army had made its first onward 
movement to the Lauter, and on September 1st 
the battle of Sedan was fought. On August 2d. 
Xapoleon had directed the first operations against 
Saarbrucken, — the first guns had been fired and 
the swords drawn. On the 2d of September he 
handed over his sword and his army, and became a 
prisoner of the Germans. The news of the defeat 
and surrender of Napoleon caused a revolution to 
break out in Paris ; and a republic was proclaimed 
on the 4th, with a " Government of National De- 
fence" to conduct the war, composed for the most 
part of lawyers who knew nothing about war. 
Hopes of peace, founded on the surrender of the 
Emperor, fell. The war must be prosecuted to the 
end. The Germans did not let the grass grow 
under their feet. Next day they entered Rheims, 
and on the 15th were before Paris, surrounding it 
like a half-moon. Paris is defended by a number 
of forts which crown the hills around it, allowing a 
good open space between them and the city walls. 
This allowed the French to form and fling themselves 
between the forts, in sorties, upon the Germans, 
unperceived. N ne of these sorties, however, 



THE GERMANS A T VERSAILLES. 



409 



were successful. Fresh German troops came up 
and completely encircled the city, so that no pro- 
visions could get into it. On October 5th the King 
of Prussia made the Palace of Versailles his head- 
quarters. 



M AMY 



■■;- 



£/SS£WS£flG 




MAP OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 

The siege of Paris could not be prosecuted with 
energy, because the Germans had not, at first, a 
siege train, that is, heavy cannon and other articles 
necessary for a bombardment ; consequently the 
German army at first assumed a purely defensive 



4io 



A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH ERANCE. 



attitude, driving back the various sorties attempted 
by the French. 

Now a number of fortified towns in Elsass sur- 
rendered ; Strasburg had made a gallant defence, and 
after a terrible bombardment yielded on September 
27th. Marsal, Vitry, Toul, Soissons, Schlettstadt, 
all capitulated. On October 27th Marshal Bazaine 
surrendered Metz. His army, consisting of three 
marshals, 6000 generals and officers, 173,000 men, 
and 1340 cannon, fell into the hands of the victori- 
ous Germans. Thus the second French army was 
annihilated ; and the army under Prince Frederick 
Charles was set free for further operation. 

Just before Paris was surrendered some of the 
members of the new Republican government had 
fled to Tours. Gambetta, a French-Italian lawyer, 
with some cleverness, and an overweening opinion 
of his own abilities, escaped from Paris in a balloon, 
and joined the members of the government at 
Tours, where he took on himself the direction of 
the war, and acted as a dictator to France. He 
called out all able-bodied men in the country to arms, 
ordered war material from abroad, and the newly- 
formed troops to be drilled into order. We can see 
how absurd it was to suppose that such raw recruits 
could effect anything against armies of such tried 
and splendid quality as the Germans, but we must 
acknowledge the heroism of these men who would 
not yield when two of their armies had been de- 
stroyed. The result was, however, infinitely disas- 
trous to France. It increased the misery fiftyfold, 
and led to useless loss of life. 



FINISHING OFF FAIDHERBE. 



411 



A large army was formed on the Loire under 
General Aurelle de Paladines, which might have 
effected something if Gambetta had not meddled 
and tried to override the authority of the general 
in command. The Germans went at once against 
it, as it was menacing their army about Paris, and 
beat it at Orleans and Beaune. General Aurelles 
had been forced by the dictator Gambetta to fight 
against his judgment. After his defeat he resigned, 
and the army of the Loire was divided into two. 
One, under Bourbaki, was concentrated at Bourges. 
The other, under Chanzy, was further down the 
Loire at Beauzency, between Orleans and Blois. 
The Germans soon found that the latter had the 
largest army, and the Red Prince went at him and 
defeated him, and drove him back on Vendome. 
The government finding Tours no longer safe, ran 
away to Bordeaux. Chanzy then retreated to 
Le Mans. On the last day of that disastrous year 
Chanzy made an attempt to strike a deadly blow 
at the army of the Red Prince which pursued him, 
but this also failed. 

In the mean time an army had been formed in 
the north of France, under General Faidherbe ; 
and against this the first German army, under Gen- 
eral Manteuffel, was sent, attacked this army at 
Amiens on November 27th, and beat it, driving it 
away in confusion to Arras and Lille. 

Another division of the north army was at 
Rouen, and now Manteuffel turned against that 
and dispersed it, and occupied Rouen. Then he 
went back against Faidherbe to finish him off. He 



412 



A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE. 



defeated him at Hallue and Bapaume. Another 
battle at S. Quentin completed the ruin of Faid- 
herbe'sarmy. This last battle was on January 18th. 
The same day General Trochu who commanded 
in Paris, made an attempt to burst out, but was 
beaten back with great loss. 

Thus every attempt made to relieve Paris by 
falling on the rear of the besiegers had failed. 

Gambetta now formed a new plan of operation. 
He determined to carry the war into the enemy's 
country, and so force them to send back their 
troops to the protection of Germany, and so relieve 
the pressure on Paris. Between Vesoul and Basle 
is a very strong fortified place, Belfort, which had 
not as yet surrendered, though it was closely be- 
sieged. Gambetta resolved that Bourbaki should 
march to the relief of Belfort, and thence cross 
the Rhine, and fall upon Baden and Wiirtemberg. 

The Germans speedily discovered what was in- 
tended, and formed a new army, called the south 
army, to follow Bourbaki under Manteuffel, who 
was recalled from the north when he had crippled 
Faidherbe. The Red Prince was, in the mean 
while, driving Chanzy back ; and on January 12th he 
defeated him at Le Mans, taking prisoners 20,000 
men, and completely breaking his power. The 
French army of the west fled in confusion to Laval 
and Mayenne, pursued by the Germans. Chanzy 
was never again able to collect an effective force ; 
so now his army was dissolved, as well as the army 
of Faidherbe. 

In the east was General Werder at the head of 



BOURBAKI SHOOTS HIMSELF. 



413 



a German army engaged in the sieges of Belfort 
and Langres. Directly he heard of the march of 
Bourbaki, he threw himself in his way at Heri- 
court. He had only 35,000 men at his command, 
whereas the French army numbered nearly 100,000. 
Moreover, in the rear of the Germans was Bel- 
fort, and they were in danger of an attack thence. 
However, for three whole days, the 15th, 16th 
and 17th of January, they held Bourbaki at bay. 
The weather was bitterly cold, snow was on the 
ground. On the 1 8th the French retreated. The 
little band of Germans had defeated an army three 
times its size. As King William truly said of this 
battle, " It is one of the most remarkable feats of 
arms of all times." 

Now Manteuffel was hastening up, and Gam- 
betta again meddled, throwing Bourbaki out of his 
arrangements. Ashamed of his ill success, mad- 
dened by Gambetta, he shot himself, but though 
severe, the wound did not prove mortal. General 
Clinchant was appointed in his place, but it was 
merely the substitution of General Naught for Gen- 
eral Nothing. All he could do was to retreat on 
Bezangon, and from Bezancon on the Swiss frontier, 
which the defeated army crossed, gave up their 
arms, and disappeared. Thus another army was 
annihilated, and France was left without one to 
defend it, except only that enclosed in Paris. 
Resistance was impossible. On the 24th February 
the preliminaries of peace were prepared, and on 
the 15th March peace was concluded. France was 
to surrender all Elsass and part of Lorraine (Loth- 



414 A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE WITH TRANCE. 

ringen) with Metz, and to pay a. heavy war indem- 
nity, and till this indemnity was paid the German 
army was to hold in occupation certain portions of 
the French territory. Some of the forts about 
Paris were to be held by the Germans till the 
money had been paid. A congress was to meet at 
Brussels to settle particulars. 

Thereupon, the greater part of the victorious 
army returned to Germany, and the Peace congress 
met at Brussels on March 28th. Proceedings were, 
however, delayed by the breaking out of a new rev- 
olution in Paris. The Commune took possession of 
the capital and several of the forts vacated by the 
Germans, and established a government of their 
own. And now the Republican government had 
to lay siege to Paris, and bombard it, whilst the 
Germans looked quietly on from the forts they still 
held. The Republican government called the 
remains of its armies together, and so Paris had to 
undergo a second siege, which left it in a more dis- 
astrous condition than the first. When the Com- 
munists saw that the place was taken, they tried 
to set fire to all the public buildings and churches, 
so as to bury themselves under its ruins. 

Only on the 10th of May peace was definitely 
concluded at Frankfort, which was substantially the 
same as the preliminary agreement arrived at on 
March 1st. 



LXVII. 



THE NEW EMPIRE. 



THE war had drawn all the states of Germany 
together, had broken down the dislike of the South 
for the North, and had united all German hearts. 

The time was come, Providence seemed to have 
declared it, when at last the lesson of the past, 
which had been written and rewritten in blood, but 
which had been unheeded, should be laid to heart 
and acted upon. That lesson was — Unity. All 
the miseries of Germany had been due to petty 
rivalries and jealousies. Now God had given Ger- 
many victory over the power that had been her 
deadliest enemy — the busy hand that had sowed 
strife in her fields, and that victory had been given 
only because she had acted unitedly. 

The several states took counsel together, and 
agreed to offer the imperial crown to the King of 
Prussia. The proclamation declaring the founda- 
tion of the restored empire was made on January 
1st, 1871, and on the 18th William, King of Prussia, 
was saluted as Emperor of Germany, in the Palace 
of Versailles, by the representatives of the states 
of Germany. 

The capitulation of Paris followed on Jan. 28th. 

415 



416 



THE NEW EMPIRE. 



The preliminaries of peace were decided on, on Feb. 
26th, and peace was concluded definitely on May 
10th, at Frankfort-on-Main. The re-union of Elsass 
and German Lorraine with Strasburg and Metz was 
a military necessity, and was in accord with the 
general wish of the German people. 

The first diet of the Empire assembled at Berlin 
on March 21, 1871. 

The present German empire comprises twenty-six 
states. Of these twenty-two are monarchical, and 
three (Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck) are repub- 
lican. One, Elsass — Lothringen, is an imperial 
province, under the sovereignty of the German 
empire. The other states are kingdoms, grand 
duchies and duchies. 

Formerly, the traveller up the Rhine had to 
obtain Prussian coins at Aix or Cologne, and change 
them into South German coins at Mainz. At Co- 
logne he had thalers, groschen, and pfennig. 
Twelve pfennig made a silver groschen, and thirty 
silver groschen made a thaler. At Mainz the coin- 
age was different. There one had kreutzers, and 
gulden or florins. Sixty kreutzers made a gulden. 
In Hamburg the coinage again was different. There 
sixteen shillings made a mark, and the value of a 
shilling was under an English penny. Now 
throughout Germany (not including Austria) there 
is but one coinage. Ten pfennig make one mark, 
the value of which is about one shilling English. 
This is a great gain. Now also the laws have been 
simplified and made alike throughout Germain', 
and these are only some of the many advantages 




WILLIAM I., EMPEROR OF GERMANY. 



41/ 



4 1 8 THE NE IV EMPIRE. 

gained by unity. You remember, doubtless, the 
fable of the old man and his sons and the bundle of 
sticks. Each stick alone could easily be snapped, 
but a strong man could do nothing to the bundle 
when tied tightly together. Now at last that bun- 
of sticks, the German nation, has been bound 
together firmly, and ever may it so remain. 

There is a favourite German song to this effect : 

" What is the German Fatherland ? 
Is it Prussia ? 
Is it Swabia ? 

Is it the grape-hung Rhine ? 
Is it the Baltic gull-sought strand ? 
Greater, O greater, the German Fatherland. 

" What is the German Fatherland? 
Is it Bavaria ? 
Is it Saxony ? 

Is't where the sedgy marshes spread ? 
Is't where the miners work the ore ? 
Greater, O greater, the German Fatherland. 

" What is the German Fatherland ? 

Is it Pomerania ? 

Is it Westphalia ? 

Is't where white sands the blue sea laves ? 

Is't where wild Danube rolls her waves? 
Greater, O Greater, the German Fatherland." 

Then the song goes on to say that the German 
Fatherland is where the German tongue is spoken, 
and German songs are sung, where German hearts 
beat true, and foreign falsehood is abhorred, where 
there is common good, and a common love of all 
that is great, and noble and right. 

I have said that German history shows us the 




FREDERICK WILLIAM, IMPERIAL PRINCE, AND HEIR APPARENT TO THE 

GERMAN THRONE. 



419 



420 



THE NEW EMPIRE. 



great lesson of unity taught so simply in the fable 
of the old man, his sons and the bundle of sticks. 
It teaches another lesson also, a lesson illustrated 
by a fable. You well recall that of the dog and the 
piece of meat and the shadow. The dog, in grasp- 
ing at the shadow, lost the substance. German em- 
perors, in grasping at that vainest of shadows, the 
Roman empire, lost the opportunity of consolidat- 
ing the German nation under a firm government. 
It was this grasping at a vain shadow which had 
made the empire so weak, and Germany so in- 
coherent, that Napoleon was able to ruin it almost 
hopelessly. It took Germany many centuries to 
learn this truth; it did learn it in the end. It has 
taken it still longer to learn the truth that in Unity 
is Strength. 

But it must by no means be supposed that every 
problem has been solved, and that Germany now 
knows the safe road that leads to prosperity. It 
has learned one or two lessons, but it has another to 
learn. It has solved certain problems, but there is 
another to be solved which is full of difficulty and 
menace. 

In order to make Germany united and powerful 
its manhood has been organized into an army. 
Every able-bodied man is a soldier. He has to 
drill, and serve for three years actively with the 
colours. Only those who are studying for the 
learned professions and are capable of passing a 
high standard in examination arc let off with one 
year of active service. Now, this system unques- 
tionably is of great advantage, not to the nation 



UNITY A T LAST. 



421 



only, but also to the individual soldiers. All the 
young men receive a discipline which transforms 
louts and boobies into trim and intelligent men ; 
for the German military course is not one of drill 
of the body only, but of mental drill as well. Con- 
sequently, all the manhood of the country is brought 
to discipline, subordination, and to the sense of- in- 
terdependence. But on the other hand, the cost 
to the country is enormous and crushing. Some of 
the best years of a young man's life, the most valu- 
able years for acquiring knowledge of a profession 
are lost to him. Moreover, the country has to be 
heavily taxed to feed, clothe, and equip this enor r 
mous body of recruits. Many men, rather than 
serve these three years, run away to America, or 
England, and the drain in this way of able-bodied 
men is so serious as to perplex the authorities 
greatly. 

Now, Germany having armed all her male popu- 
lation, France, Austria, Russia, Italy have had to 
do the same, so that the continent of Europe is 
burdened with this terrible cost, and one nation 
cannot withdraw its shoulder from the burden, 
because it fears to be crushed by the superior force 
of the others. 

Consequently, as you see, though the empire of 
Germany is a splendid power, it is also a very crush- 
ing power to the people, and though the nation has 
escaped from one set of difficulties, it has plunged 
into another. What the result will be we cannot 
tell, but in this world there is no great gain made 
in one direction without a loss in another. Still. 



422 



THE iXE W EMPIRE. 



mankind is teachable, though often terribly slow to 
learn. Where a mistake has been made, better ex- 
perience comes to insist on a redress. The great 
advantage of the study of history is, that it teaches 
us to look at the mistakes that have been made by 
preceding generations, and to avoid the like in 
our own. 




INDEX. 



Abdication (second) of Napoleon 

I-i 377 

Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, 

the grand court or, 97 
Aetius defeats the Huns, 27 
Agnes, empress, at Kaiserswerth, 

95 

Agnes of Mansfield, 232. 

Agnes, queen of Hungary, cruelty 
of, 152 

Agriculture encouraged by Fred- 
erick the Great, 296 

Aix, Charlemagne dies at, 62 

Aix, peace of, 287 

Albert of Brandenburg, 266 

Albert interferes in Switzerland, 

151 • , 

Albertine and Ernestine, houses, 

226 
Alexander of Russia visits Ber- 
lin, 345 
Allemani, the, burst upon Clo- 

vis, and are beaten, 39, 40 
Allemani, the, why so named, 29, 
Alliance, the " Holy," 380 
Alps, the, crossed by Napoleon, 

331 

Alsace, see Elsass 

Altenburg, atrocities at, 163 
Alva, in the Netherlands, 232 
Anabaptists in Munster, 213, 214 
Angles, home of the, 9 
Anno, archbishop of Cologne, 

95 

Aspern, battle of, 347 

Assembly, National, at Frankfort, 
386 



Architecture of German towns, 

192, 193 
Ariovistus meets Caesar, 15 
Army of Cut-and-Run, the, 295 
Attila, or Etzel appears, 26 
Attila breaks camp at Buda, 27 
Attila dies, 28 

Attila marries Kriemhild, 145 
Augsburg, battle of, 88 
Augsburg, beauty of, 193 
Augsburg, diet at, 222, 223 
Augsburg protected from the 

Hungarians, 86 
Augsburg surrenders to Maurice, 

229 
Augustus informed that his army 

has been lost, 20 
Aurelian visits Clotilde, 37 
Aurelles, de Paladines, general, 

411 
Austerlitz, victory of Napoleon 

at, 342 
Austria cleared of the Bavarians 

and the French, 286 
Austria devastated by Turks, 166 
Austria in commotion, 206 
Austrians defeated at Prague and 

Leuthen, 295 
Austria in a ferment, 310 
Austria obliged to evacuate the 

Tyrol, 357 
Austria and Prussia against 

France, 324 
Austria and Prussia attack Den- 
mark, 390 
Austria takes up arms against 

Napoleon, 346 
Austria, war against, "by Napoleon, 

365 



423 



424 



INDEX. 



B 



Battle above the clouds, 332 
Ban of the empire pronounced 
against the Smalkald league, 
225 
Barbarossa, Frederick, 120 
Barons, occupations of the, 139 
Barons, how they held lands, 72 
Basle, council of, 163 
Bastile, the, stormed, 321 
Bavaria given to Otto of Wittles- 

bach, 122 
Bazaine at Metz, 402 
Bazaine surrenders Metz, 410 
Belgium annexed to France, 329 
Belgium declares itself independ- 
ent, 310 
Belgrade relieved by peasants un- 
der Capistran, 166 
Benedek, general, 391 
Beowulf, romances of, 142 
Berg Isel occupied by the Tyrol- 

ese » 353> 354 
Berg Isel, second battle at, 357 
Berg Isel, third battle at, 357 
Berlin, reception of Napoleon at, 

346 
Bernadotte at the battle«of Leip- 
zig, 368 
Bernadotte, status of, after Na- 
poleon's fall, 378 
Bertha, queen, spins, 80 
Bertha married to Henry IV., 98 
Bianca Sforza, of Milan, wife of 

Maximilian, 174 
Bible, the, printed, 180 
Bible, translations of, 198 
Bigamy authorized by law, 259 
Bingen, Henry IV. confined in 

castle of, 105 
Bismarck meets Napoleon III., 

the prisoner, 406 
Bishoprics seized, 233 
Bishops in armour, 188 
Bishops, power of the, 183 
Bishops, secular princes, 95 
Black Hoffman, 207, 209 
Blenheim, battle of, 272, 273 
Blockade of continental harbours, 

35S 



Bliicher advances over the Rhine, 

373 
Bliicher, against Napoleon, 365 
Bliicher at the battle of Leipzig, 

370 
Bliicher defeated at Ligny, 376 
Bliicher late at Waterloo, 277 
Blundering reforms, 307 
Bluster of Frederick II., 2cSi 
Bockelson, John, a tailor of Ley- 
den, 213 
Bohemia, toleration in, 234 
Boniface, archbishop of Mainz, 44 
Boniface killed by Pagans, 51 
Books formerly written, 179 
Bourbaki followed by Manteuffel, 

4 12 
Bourbaki shoots himself for 

shame, 413 

Bourbons, the, restored in France, 

375 
Brandenburg, elector of, 265 
Bremen, archbishop of, 97 
Brenner Pass, the, 350 
Brenner Pass, Lefebvre at, 356 
Brescia besieged, 1 54 
Brod, terrible atrocities at, 162 
Buda, a seat of the Niebelungen 

romances, 145 
Bull, the, of Leo X. burned by 

Luther, 201 
Bull, the Golden, 154, 156 
Buren, Frederick of, 113 
Burghers, the hereditary, 146 
Burgkmair's " Triumph of Max- 
imilian," 172 
Burgundians, home of the, 31 
Burkhard of Swabia, 86 
Butchery at Weinsberg, 207 
Byzantines deposed from power 
by Leo, 65 



Caesar, Julius, meets the Marco- 

manni, 15 
Campo Formio, treaty of, 333 
Canossa, visit of Henry IV. to, 

102 
t'alixtines, the, 160, 161 
Calmucks, the, (or Huns,) 24, 26 




INDEX. 



42 5 



Calvin and .Luther, hostility be- 
tween, 221 

Calvinists and Lutherans at war, 
2^2 

Castles plundered by peasants, 
209 

Castles, the ruined, 136 

Catholics driven out by Wallen- 
steh-1,-250 

Catholic League and the Protest- 
ant Union, 234 , 

Catholic priests driven out, 212 

Catholicism abolished in certain 
parts, 245 

Catholicism forced upon Bohemia, 

239 . . 
Catholicism, peasants revolt 

against, 205 
Chalons, defeat of the Huns at, 

27 
Chalons taken by Lothair, 68 
Chamilly, stands on a bridge at 

Basle, 261 
Charlemagne, campaigns of, 52 
Charlemagne crowned at Rome, 

61 
Charlemagne devastates the Sax- 
on territories, 56 
Charlemagne dies at Aix, 62 
Charlemagne foresees trouble, 75 
Charlemagne's good government, 

58, 59 

Charles Albert, elector of Bava- 
ria, 281 

Charles Martel, son of Pepin, 43 

Charles IV. endeavours to aggran- 
dize his family, 158 

Charles IV., of Luxemburg, cho- 
sen emperor, 156 

Charles X. driven from his throne, 
382 

Charles V., character of, 201 

Charles V. dies, 230, 231 

Charles V., the greatness of, 199 

Charles VII., short reign of, 286 

Charles the Fat, deposed, 75 

Chatti, the, 9 

Childeric III. sent to a monas- 
tery, 44 

Chivalry and knighthood, in 

Chronicles, the early, 194 



Christianity abolished and re- 
stored in France, 340 

Christianity brought to the Ger- 
mans, 48 

Christianity introduced to Rome, 

6 3 . 
Christian of Denmark, 244 

Church, split in the, 182, 186, 

201 
Church, the Western, disorder in, 

160 
Cimbri and Teutones invade 

Italy, 1, 6 
Cities gain power, 146 S 
Cities, importance of, 189 
City-building by plan, 302 
Civilization begun by Winifred, 

(Boniface) 50 
Clergy, the, ridiculed in France, 

Clermont, Council of, 109 
Clinchant defeated, 413 
Clinchant takes Bourbaki's place, 

Clodwig, the same as Clovis, 

Louis and Ludwig, 34 
Clotilde wooed by Clovis, 27 
Clouds, battle above the, 332 
Clovis baptised, 41 
Clovis dies at Paris, 42 
Clovis, king of the Franks, 34 
Clovis meets the Allemani and 

the Vosges, 39 
Clovis prays to the God of Clo- 
tilde, 39 
Clovis wooes Clotilde, 27 
Coalition, the first, 328 
Coalition, the second, 337 
Coalition, the third, 341 
Cologne and Mainz, archbishops 

of, 95 
Cologne, paper factories at, 180 
Columbanus, S. in Burgundy, 46 
Commune, the, in Paris, 414 
Constance, Council of, 160 
Constantine makes the Roman 

empire Christian, 63 
Constantia of Arragon becomes 

wife of Frederick II. 127. 
Constitutions promised, 380. 
Conrad, chosen king, 79 



426 



INDEX. 



Conrad of Hohenstaufen chosen 

king, 114 
Conrad II., first of Salic kings, 94 
Conradin, emperor, 134, 135 
Cossacks at the battle of the na- 
tions, 370 
Cruelties at Vienna, 309 
Crusade against Saladin, 124 
Crusade, a, headed by Conrad, 1 18 
Crusades, effects of, in 
Crusades, the, 109 
Crusade under Frederick II., 132 
Cultivation nearly extinguished, 

302 
Custozza, defeat of the Italians 

by Austria at, 390 
Cut-and-Run, army of, 296 



D 



Danube, navigation of, 196 
Danzig (Dantztic) duke of, 355 
Darmstadt rebuilt, 304 
Denmark attacked, 391 
Desiderius, the Lombard king, 57 
Despotic views of government, 

380 
Detmold, terrible battle at, 56 
Dettingen, battle at, 286 
Devil's Walls, the, 23 
Dialects in Germany, 197 
Diet, imperial, at Ratisbon, 258 
Diet-Bund, reappointed, 387 
Donar the thunderer, 12, 50 
Dream, the bad, of the duke of 

Hesse-Cassel, 380 
Dresden, princes lectured by 

Napoleon at, 358 
Dress in the rococo time, 276 
Duchies, the, of Schleswig-Hol- 

stein, 388 
Dwellings in former times, 192 



E 



Eagle, the two-headed, 119 
Edmund, king of England, 92 
Egypt invaded by Napoleon, 337 
Elba given to Napoleon, 375 
Electors, number of, 156 



Elector, the Great, (Frederick 
William,) 266 

Elector of Saxony, the, 203 

Elector of Saxony protests against 
the decree of the diet of Spires, 
222 

Elsass given to France, 257 

Elsass and Loraine given to Prus- 
sia 

Emperors, the, hated in Italy, 131 

Empire, a division of, 70 

Empire, dissolution of, 345 

Empire, crushing weight of the, 
421 

Empire, dreams of a world-wide, 
177 

Empire, glory of, passes away, 136 

Empire (new) diet of, at Berlin 
(1871)416 

Empire, the ancient German, re- 
placed by a German confedera- 
tion, 378 

Empire, the, organized by Maxi- 
milian, 175 

Empire, the Roman, idea of, 63 

Emperor, who is an ? 65 

England, dialects of, 198 

England harasses the French 
navy, 358 

England, kings of, 383 

" Enoch and Elias ' at Munster, 
214 

Enzio, last of the Hohenstaufens, 

134, 135 
Ernestine and Albertine houses 

of Saxony, 226 
Etzel or Attila appears, 26 
Eugene, Prince, 269 
Europe emancipated from the 

tyranny of Napoleon, 362 
Europe, new partition of, 378 



Faidherbe, General, in the north 

of France, 41 1 
Faith, salvation by, 187 
Fatherland, indifference to, 260 
Fatherland, what is the ? 418 
Faust, Goethe's work, 314 
Faust, story of, 181 



INDEX. 



427 



Ferbellin, battle of, 267 
Ferdinand of Austria, flees from 

his capital, 385 
Feudal laws of Joseph II., 308 
Feudal system, the, 72, 73 
Fire brigade, the first, 192 
Flemings rebel against the house 

of Hapsburg, 170 
Fontenay, (Burgundy) battle at, 

70 
France copied by Germany, 301 
France, cultivation in, 302 
France declares war prematurely, 

396 
France humbled by Prussia, 406 
France named, 33 
France, revolution in, 382 
France, revolution of 1848, 385 
France, wretched state of affairs 

in, 318 
Francis II. announces the disso- 
lution of the empire, 345 
Francis Joseph of Austria prom- 
ises reforms, 386 
Francis of Waldeck, inclined to 

Lutheranism, 211 
Frankfort, parliament at, 386 
Frankfort, council at, after the 

battle of Leipzig, 373 
Frankfort, peace settled at, (1871) 

414 
Franks, territory of the, 29 
Frederick I. (Barbarossa), 120 
Frederick I., ambition of, 120 
Frederick I., under the ban of 

the empire, 122 
Frederick II., born, 125 
Frederick II. excommunicated, 134 
Frederick II. (of Prussia, the 

Great) described, 280, 298, 300 
Frederick the Great, intrigues of, 

286 
Frederick the Great, frightened 

in battle, 282 
Frederick the Great as a prince, 

290 
Frederick the Great dies, 300 
Frederick III. of Hapsburg, long 

reign of, 164 
Frederick of Austria, son of 

Albert I., 155 



Frederick William, the Great 
Elector, 255 

Frederick William III. comes to 
the throne, 334 

Frederick William IV. of Prus- 
sia, chosen emperor, 386 

Freemen and slaves, 11 

French, the enemies of Germany, 

I75> l 77 
French, the, waste the Rhine lands 

again, 261 
French language, earliest speci- 
men of, 70 
Fridolin at Sechingen, 48 
Friedstadt burned, 251 
Frisian cycle of romances, 142 
Fritz, the palatine, rebels, 167 
Fust and Schoffer aid Gutenberg, 
179 



G 



Gabor, Bethlen, revolts in Hun- 
gary, 238 
Gall, S., makes his home in 

Switzerland, 46 
Gambetta escapes from Paris, 

410 
Gaul, a capital of, 34 
Gebhard of Spires humbles 

Henry IV., 105 
Gebhard of Waldburg, archbish- 
op of Cologne, 232 
George of Pojebrad, in Bohemia, 

167 
George II. of England at the 

head of an army, wins a victory 

at Dettingen, 286 
Georgenborn built, 302 
German confederation, the, 378 
German empire, the new (1848), 

386 
German empire, composition of 

the new, 416 
German independence won by 

Hermann, 20 
German, meaning of the word, 9 
German religion in early times, 

11 
Germans think about their rights, 

380 



428 



INDEX. 



Germany agitated on account of 
Henry IV., 96 

Germany aroused against Napo- 
leon, 362 

Germany described, 7 

Germany devastated by rival em- 
perors, 129 

Germany, divisions of, 195, 196 

Germany, forces of, in the Franco- 
Prussian war, 397 

Germany free from France, 372 

Germany freed from the Romans, 

23 
Germany, her saddest time, 137, 

133 
Germany in commotion (1848), 

3 8 5 . 
Germany independent of France, 

71 
Germany influenced bv France, 

3*3 
Germany loses something by 

successive treaties, 263 

Germany overrun by Huns, 27, 

7 6 
Germany sees that the pope is 

her enemy, 182 
Gessler in Uri, 151 
Girondists executed, 329 
Godfrey de Bouillon leads the 

first Crusade, no 
Goethe, John Wolfgang von, 313 
Goethe appreciated in England, 

3 X 5 
Goetz with the Iron Hand, 209 

Gospel Brotherhood, the, 206 

Gospel, the, preached in Ger- 
many, 46 

Goths, position of the, 31 

Government by the people prom- 
ised, 380 

Government, a catechism of, 308 

Graubunden, confederacy of, 166 

Gravelotte, battle of, 404 

Gravelotte occupied by the Ger- 
mans, 403 

Greek magnificence, 92 

Gregory VII. deposed by Henry 
IV., 103 

Gregory VII. summons the em- 
peror to Rome, 99 



Gregory IX. sees Frederick II. 

start on a crusade, 132 
Grisons, the, why named, 166 
Gross-Beeren, battle at, 365 
Guilds, beginnings of, 146 
Gundebald, king of Burgundv, 

37 
Gundebald overcome, 38 
Gunther and Kriemhild, 143 
Gustavus Adolphus appealed to 

by the Protestants, 247 
Gustavus Adolphus beats Tilly, 

248 
Gustavus, death of, 255 
Gustavus described, 251 
Gustavus forced to retreat from 

Nuremberg, 254 
Gustavus Adolphus joins the 

Protestant League, 244 
Gutenberg, John, prints, 180 
Gyer Florian, 207 



H 



Hammerstein, castle of, 104 
Hanseatic League, the, 147 
Hapsburg, the family of, 148 
Hapsburg, house of, 164 
Hapsburgs, ambition of the, 178 
Hatto, archbishop of Mainz, 79 
Heidelberg, castle of, 302 
Heidelberg, the Catholic League 

at, 245 
Helena, S., Napoleon sent to, 

377 
Helfenstein, count of, 207, 208 
Henry II., called the Saint, 93 
Henry IV. (Hohenstaufen), 125 
Henry IV., childhood of, 96 
Henry IV. excommunicated, 100 
Henry IV. goes to Rome, 102 
Henry IV., 'humiliation of, at Can- 

ossa, 102 
Henry IV. married, 98 
Henry V. marries Matilda of 

England, 106 
Henry the Fowler chosen king, 

80 
Henry the Lion fights Otto IV., 

129 
Henry the Lion furious, 122 



INDEX. 



429 



Henry of Luxemberg (Liitzel- 

berg) chosen emperor, 154 
Hermann, chief of the Cherusci, 

a captive in Rome, 1 5 
High Germany and Low, 196, 197 
High and Low Germany, 7 
Hildebrand (Gregory VII.), 

99-103 
History, advantage of the study 

of, 422 
Hofer, Andreas, the Tyrolese 

hero, 348 
Hofer betrayed and shot by Na- 
poleon, 357 
Hohenlinden, battle of, 338 
Hohenstaufen dynasty, the, 113 
Hohenstaufen, the hill so-called, 

V 3 

Hohenstaufens, the, 114 

Hohenzollern described, 265 

Holy Alliance, the, 380 

Homogeneity of manners to be 
forced, 307 

Houses first built of stone, 192 

Houses of timber, 189 

Huntsman, the Wild, 12 

Hungarians defeated at Augs- 
burg, 88 

Hungarians, plans for protection 
against, 80, 81 

Hungary, formerly Dacia, 26 

Hungary, revolt in, 238 

Huns, the, appear in Germany, 
24, 26, 85 

Huns defeated, 27 

" Huns' Graves," the, in North 
Germany, 8 

Hunvadi, John, king of Hungary, 
166. 

Husbands carried by wives, 118 

Huss, John, and his views, 160 

Huss, martyrdom of, 160 



Ida leaves Weinsberg with her 
husband on her back, 118 

Imperial crown goes a begging, 
136 

Imperial idea, the, 131. (See em- 
pire.) 



Imperial idea, trouble from, 79, 

106 
Indulgences offered for sale, 183 
Inn-keepers among the nobility, 

140 
Innsbruck in the hands of the 

Bavarians, 353 
Innsbruck occupied by Lefebvre, 

35 6 
Innsbruck taken by Maurice, 229 
Irene, empress, 64 
Irmgard, the empress, 67 
Irish missionaries, 48 
Irish, the, first preach the Gospel 

in Germany, 46 
Isel, Mount, occupied by Hofer, 

Speckbacher and Haspinger, 

353.354. 
Islamism, idea of, 64 
Italy, Prince Eugene in, 272 



Jacobins at Paris, 324 
Jemmapes, Austrians defeated 

at, 324 
Jena, defeat of the Prussians at, 

345 
Jerusalem entered by Frederick 

II., 132 
Jerusalem stormed and taken by 

the Crusaders, no 
Jesuits obnoxious to Joseph II., 

309 
Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand 

and Isabella, 177 
Joanna torn by the hounds of 

Wenceslas, 159 
Joseph II., a good prince, 306 
Joseph II. dies, 311 
Josephine, divorce of, 385 
Jury-trials demanded, 381 
Jutta, the empress, 68 

K 

Key to the history of mediaeval 

Germany, 66 
King, the, elected by the great 

vassals, 78 
Klopstock and Wieland, 312 
Knighthood, rise of, 1 1 1 



430 



INDEX. 



Knighthood, rules of, &$ 
Knipperdolling, the draper, 21 1, 

219 
Knyffhauser Mountain, legend 

about, 124 
Koniggratz, situation of, 391 
Kotzebue assassinated, 381 
Kyburg, count, puzzles the Hun- 
garians, 86 



Land tenure, 72, 73 
Laurin the dwarf, 142 
League, the Hanseatic, 147 
Learning scorned by Frederick 

William I., 2S9 
Lech, Tilly beaten in a battle on 

the, 250 
Lefebvre, general, 355 
Lefebvre defeated, 357 
Legends, the old German, 142 
Leipzig, battle of, 367, 372 
Leopold chosen emperor, 259 
Leopold of Hohenzollern, 395 
Leo III. crowns Charlemagne, 60 

79 
Leo X. excommunicates Luther, 

201 

Leopold of Tuscany, made king, 

3 11 
Lessing opposes sentimentality, 

312 
Liberty, cries for, 381 
Liberty, ideas of, in France, 319 
Ligny, battle at, 376 
Literature in early times, 197 
Literature, in the eighteenth cent- 
ury, 312 
Literature, the early, 194 
Little Abbot, a nickname of 

Prince Eugene, 269 
Lombard cities take the side of 

the Welfs, 116 
Lombard cities revolt, 132 
Lombard cycle of romances, 142 
Lombards chastised by Pepin, 44 
Lombards, early home of the, 10, 

Lombards overrun Italy, 64 
Lombardy, Napoleon in, 338 



Louisa of Prussia opposes Napo- 
leon I., 345 
Louis the Bavarian, 155 
Louis and Frederick rule together, 

156 

Louis Philippe flees to England, 

334 

Louis Philippe forgets good reso- 
lutions, 384 

Louis, son of Charlemagne, 67 

Louis the German, 70 

Louis XIV. builds Versailles, 301 

Louis XIV. tries to bribe Prince 
Eugene, 270 

Louis XVI. arrested, 322 

Louis XVI. executed, 326 

Louis XVIII. flees to the Nether- 
lands, 376 

Louvois, French minister of war, 
261 

Low Germany and High, 7 

Lupfen, countess of, her orders to 
the peasants, 206 

Luneville, peace of, 339 

Luther, Martin, at the diet of 
Worms, 203 

Luther, commemoration of, 381 

Luther excommunicated by the 
pope, 201 

Luther hostile to Calvin, 221 

Luther, influence of, on the Ger- 
man dialect, 198 

Luther writes to the archbishop 
of Mainz, 185 

Luther, protectors of, 204 

Luther rabid against the peasants, 
210 

Liitzen, battle at, 254 

Liitzen, victory of Napoleon at, 
364 



M 



MacMahon cornered, 405 
MacMahon takes Weissenberg, 

398 
Magdeburg, terrible scenes at, 248 
Magyars invade Germany, 76 
Mainz and Cologne, archbishops 

of, 95 
Malplaquet, battle of, 275 



INDEX. 



431 



Man, rights of, 379 

Mannheim made the capital in- 
stead of Heidelberg, 303 

Marcomanni, the, 10 

Margraves, (march-counts) 58 

Maria Theresa, character of, 281 

Maria Theresa flees to Hungary, 
283 

Maria Theresa sovereign of Aus- 
tria, 279 

Marie Antoinette comes to the 
throne, 319 

Marie Antoinette executed, 327 

Marius defeats the Teutones, 4, 6 

Marlborough and Prince Eugene, 
271 

Martinitz and Slawata, 234 

Mary of Burgundy, wife of Max- 
imilian, 168, 170 

Massacres at Paris, 324 

Maurice declares for the Protest- 
ants, 228 

Maurice of Saxony, refuses to 
join the Smalkald league, 227 

Maurice turns against the em- 
peror, 227 

Maximilian of Bavaria attacks 
Prague, 238 

Maximilian, the handsome, 168 

Mayors of the Palace, the, power 

of, 43 

Meissen, margrave of, 96 

Melancthon draws up the Augs- 
burg Confession, 223 

Merovingians, the, are weak 
creatures, 43 

Merseburg, great battle at, 82 

Merseburg, imperialists cut to 
pieces at, 250 

Metternich meets Napoleon, 364 

Metz, battle of, 400-404 

Meyerbeer's opera of the Prophet, 
211 

Michael, the angel of victory, 8^ 

Mincio, defeat of the Austrians 
at the, 338 

Moltke, directs the Franco-Prus- 
sian war, 397 

Moltke, general, after Sedan, 406 

Molwitz, battle of, 282 

Monks butchered, 250 



Montaigne on Augsburg, 193 
Moors, Charlemagne goes against, 

56 
Morat, battle of, 153 
Morgarten, battle of, 153 
Moscow entered by Napoleon, 359 
Moustaches first worn, 277 
Miihlberg, battle of, 226 
Miihldorf, battle of, 155 
Munster taken after a long siege, 

219 
Munster, in Westphalia, 211 
Murat at the battle of Leipzig, 368 
Murat gains victory at Tolentino, 

377 
Music, birth of, 278 
Music and education under 

Charlemagne, 59 
Music springs into perfection, 

3 l 7 



N 



Napoleon I., appears, 330 
Napoleon I. advances to Italy, 

331 

Napoleon as a reorganizer, 340 
Napoleon at his highest point, 358 
Napoleon crowned emperor by 

the Pope, 341 
Napoleon defeated at Aspern, 347 
Napoleon deserts his own army, 

361 
Napoleon enters France again, 376 
Napoleon enters Prussia, 364 
Napoleon enters Russia, 358 
Napoleon gives governments to 

relatives, 244 
Napoleon in Lombardy, 338 
Napoleon, insolence of, 346 
Napoleon lectures princes, 35S 
Napoleon outgeneralled at Mos- 
cow, 360 
Napoleon proclaimed an outlaw, 

376 
Napoleon retreats from Leipzig, 

37i 

Napoleon threatened by Welling- 
ton 373 

Napoleon II., who was he ? 385 



432 



INDEX. 



Napoleon III., president of the 

French republic, 384 
Napoleon III., a prisoner, 406 
Napoleon III. proclaims war with 

Prussia, 395 
National Assembly, the, in 

France, 321 
Nations, battle of the, 367 
Nations, migrations of, 29 
Necklace, a dangerous, 79 
Netherlands, a revolt in the, 170 
Ney, Marshal, at Quatre Bras, 

3/6 
Niebelungen Lied, the, 26, 142, 

H3 
Nimweg, Reissweg and Unrecht, 

262 
Nobles, manufacture of, 278 
Nobles, power of the, 129 
Nobles, the, elect the king, 78 
Nobility, the, dying out, 277 
Nobility, the, in France refuse to 

bear burdens of taxation, 321 
Nothburga, the peasant girl, 12 
Nord-Bund, the, 394 
North Germany flat, 197 
Northmen, incursions of, 75 
Nuremburg, situation of, 252 



O 



Orchestra, the, developed, 317 
Orders, religious, to be made to 

work, 309 
Ottacar of Bohemia defeated near 

Vienna, 148, 149 
Otto the Great, character of, 90 
Otto I., state of, 92 
Otto II., court of, 92 
Otto IV. fights Henry the Lion, 

129 
Oudenarde, battle of, 275 



Paris, Clovis dies at, 42 
Paris, revolution in, (1870) 408 
Paris, siege of, (1870) 409 
Paris, second peace of, 378 
Paris surrounded by the Germans, 
408 



Paris, first peace of, 375 

Paris, second seige of, 414 

Paris bombarded by the French, 

414 
Pacifications of Nimwegen, Rvs- 

wick and Utrecht, 262 
Palermo deluged with blood, 
Palestine conquered by the Sel- 

juks, 109 
Papal sovereignty, beginning of, 

44 
Paper, slips of, on the river Inn, 

350 
Paper, watermarks of, 179 

Parliament, the, in France, 43 
Parliaments demanded, 381 
Passau, pacification of, 229, 245 
Paul IV opposes Charles V., 230 
Peace of Paris (first), 375 
Peace of Paris (second), 378 
Peace of Vienna, 347 
Peasants, the German, 8 
Peasants, the, aroused, 205 
Peasants in arms again (1848), 

3*7 
Peasants in the Rhoetian Alps 

rise, 166 
Peasants, plan of Joseph II. for, 

308 
Peasants rise throughout France, 

322 
Peasants of the Tyrol, action of, 

349 
People, relations to their princes 

after Napoleon's fall, 379 
Pepin the Short, as mayor of the 

palace, 43 
Pepin fights his foes, 44 
Pepin dies, 45 
Peter the Hermit preaches the 

first Crusade, 109 
Philip II. becomes king of Spain 

and the Netherlands, 230 
Philip II. persecutes Frotestants, 

232 
Pius II. on the German cities, 

193 

Pius VI. alarmed by the meas- 
ures of Joseph II., 309 

Pius VII. crowns Napoleon, 341 

Plague, the, 127 



INDEX. 



433 



Poems, the old German, 60 
Poetry cultivated, 141 
Pomerania occupied by the 

Sclavs, 32 
Poniatowski at the battle of 

Leipzig, 369 
Pope, the, against Germany, 176, 

177 
Pope, the, does Pepin a good 

turn, 44 
Pope, the, an enemv to Germany, 

181 
Pope, the, in want of money, 

182 
Popes against emperors, T06 
Popes harmed by the imperial 

claims of the German emper- 
ors, 133 
Popes uneasy. 131 
Population, decrease of. during 

the Thirty Years' War, 239 
Post office, the, organization of, 

T 7 6 
Potato, enforced cultivation of 

the, 297 

Pragmatic Sanction, the, 279 

Prague attacked by Maximilian of 
Bavaria, 238 

Prague, battle of, 295 

Prague blockaded, 286 

Prague, Hussite troubles in, 161 

Prague, imperial castle at, at- 
tacked, 235 

Prague, peace of, 394 

Press, censure of the, 382 

Pressburg, peace of, 344 

Prince and people, relations of, 

379 
Princes almost independent, 258 

Princes, and cities in constant 
feud, 138 

Printing, invention of, 179 

Protestant League takes the place 
of the Union, 244 

Protestant princes weakened by 
dissensions, 225 

Protestant Union broken up, 239, 
244 

Protestant Union and the Catho- 
lic League, 234 

Protestantism, origin of, 182, 186 

28 



Protestants erect new churches, 

234 
Protestants, how named, 222 
Protestants in Minister split, 213 
Prussia chastised, 345 
Prussia forced to war with France, 

395. 
Prussia, forces of, 397 

Prussia a great arsenal, 364 

Prussia meets reverses, 346 

Prussia wins the duchies, 394 



R 



Rack, the, used in modern times, 

3 81 . 
Ramilies, battle of, 275 

Rastadt, convention at, 335 
Rastadt, treaty of, 275 
Ratisbon besieged, 255 
Reformation in Switzerland, 221 
Reforms by Joseph II., 307 
Reichstag, an Imperial to sit at 

Ratisbon, 258 
Reign of Terror, end of, 330 
Religion, innovations in, forbid- 
den, 222 
Remigius, bishop of Rheims, 35 
Remigius teaches Clovis, 40 
Revelations, the, of the Anabap- 
tists, 217 
Revolts in various quarters, 310 
Rheims, cathedral of, spoiled, 35 
Rheims entered by the Germans, 

408 
Rhein-bund, the, 344 
Rhein-bund, the, cowed by Napo- 
leon, 362 
Rhein-bund dissolved, 373 
Rheinsberg, castle of, life of 

Frederick II. in, 292 
Rival kings, 155 
Robber-knights, the, 136 
Robber-knights, depredations of, 

164 
Robespierre elected to the Na- 
tional Assembly, 324 
Robespierre guillotined, 330 
Rococo, definition of, 276 
Rohsbacker, Tacklein, 207 
Romances, the Burgundian, 142 



434 



INDEX. 



Romans defeated by the Teutones, 

2 

Rose Garden, the, 142 

Rossbach, battle of, 294 

Rottmann preaches against ( a- 
tholicism, 212 

Rudolph of Hapsburg, 148 

Rudolph of Swabia elected em- 
peror in the stead of Henry IV., 
100 

Rudolph of Swabia defeated by 
Henry IV., 103 

Ruins repaired by "Old Frit/," 
297 



S 



Saarbriicken, battle of, 397, 408 

Sadowa, battle of, 392, 393 

Salic Franks, the, 34 

Saladin, crusade against, 12, 124 

Sandwirth, the, 348 

Saracens defeated by Charles 

Martel, 43 
Saracens, wars with the, 109 
Saxons, campaigns of Charle- 
magne against, 54, 56 
Saxons devastate France, 56 
Saxons, end of the dynasty of, 93 
Saxons forcibly baptized, 56 
Saxons, home of the, 9 
Saxons, situation of the, 29 
Saxony wasted by the Hussites, 

162 
Saxony, dukes and electors of, 

226 
Saxony, the Elector of, 203 
Saxony, two ducal houses of, 226 
Schlick, Caspar, advice of, 164 
Schiller, Christopher Frederick, 

3}3 
^chiller's works, 316 
Schism in the Church, 182, 186 
Schleswig-Holstein difficulty, the, 

explained, 388 
Schloss Elz, 190 
Schools started, 50 
Sclavs in Pomerania, t,^ 
Sclav population, the, of South 

Germany, 8 



Seidlitz, great charge of, 295 
Sedan, Napoleon III. at, 405, 408 
Serfs, the, in olden times, 8 
Sermons distributed bv Charle- 
magne, 59 
Seven Years' War, terrible suf- 
ferings in, 296 
Sicambri, the tribe of Clovis, 41 
Siegbert, king of the Ripnarian 

Franks, 42 
Siegfried killed, 1^4 
Sigismund sie/es Wenceslas, 159 
Signs of inn-houses. 140 
Silesian War, the Third, 293 
Sin. how atoned for, 183 
Sin, pardon for, 187 
Singing in early times, 195 
Slaves and freemen, 1 1 
Slawata and Martinitz, 234 
Spa, near Liege, home of Pepin 

of Ileristal, 43 
Spain, claims for the crown of, 

271 
Spain, quarrel about the throne 

of, 395 
Speckbacher, the Tvrolese hero, 

348 
Speicheren, terrible battle at, 398 
Spires, diet at, 222 
Smalkald, Protestant League at 

22"J 

Sobieski, king of Poland, rescues 

Vienna, 263 
Soissons, a capital of Clovis, 35 
Soldiers, burden of the, in Ger- 
many, 420 
Sovereigns, too many in Germany, 

189 
Strasburg bombarded. 410 
Strasburg seized by the French, 

261 
Street fights in early times, 194 
Strub Pass, the, defended bv the 

Tvrolese, 351 
States of the Church, beginning 

of, 44 
Students cry for liberty, 380 
Suevi, or Swabians, home of, 10 
Swabia, duke of, 113 
Swabia, imperial dvn.istv of, 1 1 }, 

M t 



INDEX. 



435 



Swabia invaded by the French, 

33° 
Swedes, cruelties of the, 250 

Swedes repulsed by the Great 

Elector, 268 

Swiss, determination of, to be free, 

Switzerland, languages of, 2 
Switzerland not able to sustain its 

population, 2 
Switzerland overrun by the 

French, 334 



Tabagie, the, of Frederick Wil- 
liam I., 289 

Tacitus on the career of Her- 
mann, 23 

Talleyrand at the congress of Vi- 
enna, 375 

Talleyrand at Rastadt, 236 

Taxes fall heavily on the middle 
classes in France, 319 

Taxes, power of levying, 379 

Tell, William, why named, 151 

Tell, the story of, 152 

Tennis Court, the, at Versailles, 
place of meeting of the National 
Assembly, 321 

Tetzel arrives in Germany, 183 

Teutoberger Forest, the, 18 

Teutones and Cimbri invade It- 
aly, 1, 6 

Teutones described, 1 

Teutonic knights, Grand Master 
of the, 204, 205, 266 

Thassilo of Bavaria, 57 

Theoderic, the Hun, masters It- 
aly^ 1 

Theophania of Constantinople, 
married to Otto II., 92 

Third Estate, the, 319 

Thusnelda, Hermann's wife, 22 

Tilly, Jean Tzerclaes, count of, 
240 

Tilsit, conference at, 346 

Tolbiac, battle of, 39 

Tolentino, Austrian defeat at, 377 

Tournay, a capital of Gaul, 34 



Tours, the temporary capital of 
Gambetta, 410 

Torture in the nineteenth cent- 
ury, 381 

Trade, the course of, 196 

Trade freed from arbitrary rules, 

383 
Trade under Charlemagne, 60 
Treaty of Campo Formio, 333 
Trenck, baron, memoirs of, feared 

by government, 382 
Trent, Council of, 225 
Tribur, Charles the Fat, deposed 

at, 75 
Tribur, diet at, 98 

Tribute paid to the Hungarians, 

82 
Trochu attempts to break out of 

Paris, 412 
Troubadours, the, 141 
Truce of God, the, 138 
Turks, the, give trouble, 176, 310 
Turks, the, overrun Hungary, 222 
Turks, the, repulsed by Prince 

Eugene, 270 
Turks stirred up by Louis XIV., 

263 
Turks, the, threaten Germany, 166 
Turks, the, trouble Charles V., 229 
Turn-u-Taxis, Counts of, manage 

the post, 176 
Tyrol, fighting in the, 351 
Tyrol, the, to be given up to Ba- 

Varia, 355 
Tyrol, heroes of the, 348 
Tyrolese, the, victorious, 357 

U 
Ulm captured by Napoleon, 342 
Ulphilas translates the Bible into 

Gothic, 31 
Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg, 85 
Ulrich, count of Linzgau, carried 

off, 76 
Ulrich returns, 77 
Unity, the advantages of, 420 
Unity of Germany put away, 387 
Urban II. encourages the Cru- 
sades, 109 
Uri, Gessler ruler of, 151 
Utrecht, treaty of, 275 



43 6 



INDEX. 



Varus sent to Germany, 16 
Vassals, growing power of the, 175 
Vendee, La, rising in, 328 
Verdun, treaty at, 71 
Versailles occupied by the Prus- 
sians, 409 
Vicious fashions in France, 316 
Victoria, queen, a Welf, 116 
Vienna, beauty of, 193 
Vienna besieged by the Turks, 263 
Vienna, congress of (1S14), 375 
Vienna, Napoleon's entrance to, 

347 

Vienna, Peace of, 347 

Vienna, Peace of, 357 

Vienna surrounded by the Bohe- 
mians, 236 

Vosges, the, appear, 39 

W 

Wagram, battle of, 347 
Wahlstadt, battle of, 366 
Waiblinger family, the, 116 
Wallenstein, Albert of, 242 
Wallenstein appealed to by Fer- 
dinand, 251 
Wallenstein dismissed from his 

command, 256 
Wallenstein, magnificence of his 

establishment, 252 
Wallenstein retires to Bohemia, 

246 
Wallenstein murdered, 256 
Wallenstein's soldiers the dread 

of Germany, 246 
Walls about cities, 189 
War of the Austrian Succession. 

281 
War between Prussia and Aus- 
tria. 390 
War, the Seven Years', 294 
War, the Thirty Years', 232, 235 
War, the Thirty YearsJ, devasta- 
tion of, 258 
Wars, the three Silesian, 282 
Wartburg, the, commemoration of 

Luther on, 38 1 
Waterloo, battle of, 377 



Waterloo, allegorical picture of, 

377 
\\ ater-marks in paper, 179 

Weavers, the, of Augsburg, SS 
Weinsberg against the Welfs, 116 
Wissenberg, battle of, 398 
Weinsberg, scenes at, 207 
Welf, count of Bavaria, 68, y^ 
Welfs, the, of Bavaria, 116 
Welfs, the, pacified, 120 
Wellington opposes Napoleon, 

376 
Wellington threatens Napoleon, 

, 373 

Wenceslas, and his wild acts, 158 
Werder's great skill, 413 
Wesel siezed by Napoleon, 345 
Westphalia, Peace of, 257 
Whirligig, the, of a bishop, 305 
White Mountain, battle of, 238 
Wieland, and Klopstock, 312 
Weimar becomes the German 

Athens, 314 
William IV., death of, ^ 
William of Prussia crowned at 

Versailles. 415 
Wilhelmshohe, castle of, the pris- 
on of Napoleon III., 40S 
Wimpffen, general, at Sedan, 406 
Windows glazed, 193 
Winifred, S., finds a poor quality 
of Christianity in Germany, 48, 

49 
\\ inter king, the, 239 
Wittekind, the Saxon, his West- 

phalian home, 54 
Wittekind baptized, 57 
Wittemberg, churches destroyed 

at, 203 
Worms, a diet at, 175 
Worms, diet called at, by Charles 

V., 203 
\\ onus, convention of bishops at, 

100 
Worth, the French routed at, 398 
Wrede, general, at the Strub pass. 

35 2 
Wuotan, god of the Teutones, 

11 

Wurtemburg entered by the 

French, $36 



INDEX. 



437 



Wurzburg, palace of, 304 
Wurzburg taken and the monks 
butchered, 250 

Y 

Yellow breeches, a man in, 262 



Ziska, count John, 161, 163 
Znaym, truce of, 355 
Zoll-verein, the 383 
Zwingli at Zurich, 221 




The Story of the Nations. 



Messrs. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure in 
announcing; that they have in course of publication a 
series of historical studies, intended to present in a 
gmphic manner the stories of the different nations that 
have attained prominence in history. 

In the story form the current of each national life will 
be distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy 
periods and episodes will be presented for the reader in 
their philosophical relation to each other as well as to 
universal history. 

It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes 
to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring 
them before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and 
struggled— as they studied and wrote, and as they amused 
themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with 
which the history of all lands begins, will not be over- 
looked, though these will be carefully distinguished from 
the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted 
historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions. 
The subjects of the different volumes will be planned 
to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive 
epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will 
present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in 
the great Story OF THE NATIONS ; but it will, of course, 
not always prove practicable to issue the several volumes 
in their chronological order. 

The " Stories " are printed in good readable type, and 
in handsome i2mo form. They are adequately illustrated 
and furnished with maps and indexes. They are sold 
separately at a price of $1.50 each. 



The following is a partial list of the subjects thus far 
determined upon : 

THE STORY OF EARLY EGYPT. Prof. George Rawlinson! 
" *CHALDEA. Z. Ragozin. 
" *GREECE. Prof. James A. Harrison, 

Washington and Lee University. 
" *ROME. Arthur Oilman. 
"*THEJEWS. Prof. James K. Hosmer, 

Washington University of St. Louis. 
'• *CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church, 

University College, London. 
" BYZANTIUM. 

" THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. 
" *THE NORMANS. Sarah O. Jewett. 
" *PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. 
" *SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan Hale. 
" *GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould. 

' THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 

" HOLLAND. Prof. C. E. Thorold Rogers. 

•' "NORWAY. HjALMAR II. BOYESEN. 

" *THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley Lane-Poole, 

" *HUNGARY. Prof. A. VAMBERY. 

" THE ITALIAN KINGDOM. W. L. Alden. 

" EARLY FRANCE. Prof. GUSTAVE MASSON. 
' ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. J. P. Mahai 1 v. 

" THE HANSE TOWNS. Helen Zimmern. 

" ASSYRIA. Z. Ragozin. 

" ••THE SARACENS. Arthur Oilman. 

" TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole. 

" PORTUGAL. H. Morse Stephens. 

" MEXICO. Susan Hale. 

" IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless. 
PHOENICIA. 

" SWITZERLAND. 

" RUSSIA. 

" WALES. 

" SCOTLAND. 

* (The volumes starred are DOW ready, January, 1887.) 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

New York London 

2 7 and 29 west twbnty-third street 27 kin<. william street, strand 







T R I A 



H 



\J 



^ 



G 



^RY 



GERMAN EMPIRE 



1885 



ENCLISH MILES 
zp ip O to ao eo go joo 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




00022^0^3 





I 



